Gerudesses, or, Ruto Paints
by AharonYoseph67
Summary: After OOT, Hyrule is in political turmoil. Seen through the eyes of the Sages, Link, and others, the main plots follow Link falling in love with a man, the possessed Darunia, and the angst of the well meaning but fanatical Archdeacon Priest.
1. Ruto Paints

**Chapter One**

**Ruto Paints**

_17 Farore's Moon, 3711_

It was time to paint.

Ruto stroked, her unblinking eyes following her brush intently. Something was taking shape, as it always did...

Once more, Link appeared.

**

* * *

**

The plains of Hyrule Field rolled into their majestic, glorious, view, as did the newly restored Hyrule Castle in the North, and Epona stopped suddenly to snort and to eat breakfast. Link jumped off his horse, giving her a good pat, and splashed himself well with the water from Zora Stream. Had he been on the other side of Hyrule, he would have liked to catch the clouds of steam rising off Lake Hylia, but not today. He had a lot to do. He didn't know what, exactly, but he had things to do.

First of all, shaving.

He liked shaving. He'd cast Nayru's Love to protect himself from nicks and scratches, and from then on, it was just a matter of taking out his razor and cutting off loose hairs.

Second of all, clothes. He stripped down and washed his clothes in the water, clean and fortified every day by the Zoran population.

Third of all, bathing. While the clothes dried, he washed himself in the water. The water was quite cold, icy, almost, and he would have preferred the Lake, which was where he'd bathed yesterday, but today he needed to be near the stream.

Fourth of all, dressing. Nabooru wrinkled her nose when she saw him on account of this, having only three outfits, and Zelda was constantly begging him to buy new clothes. He wouldn't. What was more, he couldn't. There was something important, deathly important, about Kokiri Forest and his Kokiri tunic, and he knew he should leave, he was eighteen years old now, he couldn't live with children anymore, he couldn't wear the same clothes all the time, it wasn't _right_, as Zelda said naggingly, as Ruto said quietly, as Nabooru said loudly. Impa stayed quiet.

Darunia... Link hadn't seen Darunia for a while. Something about Darunia did not sit well with Link. Link didn't like the Gorons that much. He didn't like the Zoras that much, either, actually. They were too extreme, both of them. The Gorons were literally too humble, too Earth-dwelling, to a point where it made him uncomfortable, and their childlike innocence was not endearing. The Zoras, on the other hand, could not be more of the opposite of the Gorons. Ruto seemed to be the only sane one of the bunch, and she was their Princess, which was saying a lot.

Then there was just Link. Once more, he was an outcast. His fairy had left him, Navi had left him, and she had never, ever, returned. For some reason, he was still bound to Kokiri Forest, yet he couldn't live there. The children didn't tease him anymore, but he couldn't seem real living among ten-year-olds. Saria was his friend, but that was about it. He felt sorry for them, horribly sorry, but not as sorry as he felt for himself.

He pleasured himself every day, but he didn't know what _to_. And every time he came, he would burst into tears. He told nobody. It was right there, in the Hylian scriptures, under lying with men and beasts and family and children, that pleasuring yourself was sin, sin, sin. The worst part about it was that again, Link didn't know what to. He was aroused, but by nothing, by air, and sitting, and sleeping. He feared it was Epona. He didn't really think it was Epona.

Ruto came into the equation. Inter-species marriage was obviously illegal, so their marriage had never come into being. It had occurred to him, once, how desperately in love with him she must have been to try and break that rule, but he had dismissed it--she must have made a mistake.

His only pleasure--and even this he was desperately ashamed of--was killing. Killing demons and once-minions of Ganondorf. It almost relaxed him, to see a blue Tektite fade into the air, to rid the land of impending evil. Yet there was something wrong about it all. He was the Hero of Time, and he was charged with ridding the land of monsters.

Why were they monsters? There were schools of Octoroks and Tektite dens and Peahat--well, Peahats were relatively solitary. They had never been known to attack a village...

They did always attack you. Always. Self-defending animals only attacked when they really had to. Most of the time, they ran away. And the monsters even attacked those. Why did the monsters exist? Was it because of Ganondorf? Why did the evil take form in Hyrule?

Link came.

**

* * *

**

Ruto stopped, exhausted. She didn't know if her visions were true, and even then, she did not feel well, prying so much into Link's brain. She, obviously, did not judge him. The reason the Hylians were not at peace with the Zoras (and especially the Gerudos) was because both groups were "pagan" (specifically the Gerudos, to which they added "witches"). A typical Zora would have judged him, but not for the same reasons as the Hylians. The early Hylian missionaries had been successful with the Gorons, but not with the Zoras, and obviously not with the Gerudos.

Well, the Zoras were _no longer_ at peace with the Royal Family. The Castle, if not the Archdeacon Priest, had accepted the Zoras' unwillingness to convert, and Ruto remembered the days when the Zora Waterfall had reacted only to Zelda's Lullaby, the secret Royal melody. Subsequent to the war and the Hylians imposing their religion, King Zora had angrily changed the song to the Serenade of Water (the Royal Family did not know this song, but Link did). Zelda did, too, actually, but Ruto didn't tell her father this.

But she needed to help Link, desperately--she didn't have Zelda's telepathic abilities, at least not enough to contact him directly.

She lifted her brush again. Maybe Nabooru...

**

* * *

**

Nabooru woke up, suddenly, with a sharp breath. She looked around, bewildered, and gradually her senses become known to her. She silently watched the harsh Dinbeam of the Desert Colossus entering through the square hollow in the right-hand stone wall. She felt a tickling between her breasts and turned to Valja, who grinned and gave her a slow kiss on the lips.

"Good morning," she said, and kissed her again. Then she looked up at the smiling Nabooru's flaming orange eyes. She added, "My Queen."

"My Queen," said Nabooru, rubbing Valja's shoulder.

"We're each other's Queens," they said together, and giggled. Nabooru fingered Valja's freshly-branded wedding band, a sense of pure rest and peace entering her body as she did so.

"This won't help Hylian relations, you know," said Valja, grinning. Nabooru adored her grin. Like most Gerudos, Valja had an almost cartoonish face, full, fat, lips, exuding sex and power, sometimes purple, sometimes white, but mostly Valja used a color that was almost a strange mix of emerald and maroon. Her eyes, her lips, her tits... everything about Valja was big except her actual frame, and it was a running joke among Nabooru's people that it was a coincidence that Nabooru's new bride just happened to be the sexiest woman alive. Her skin surged with heat and was a rich golden color, hearkening back to a more pure bloodline of Gerudo--most Gerudos had developed the pale white skin of their Hylian fathers.

But she did love Valja.

Nabooru grinned back. "Please. They'd find a way to complain even if I become a born-again."

"So what are we going to do today?" said Valja, still tracing a line around Nabooru's nipples. "More noony," she said, answering her own question.

Nabooru laughed. "Not all day, sillypants."

She wouldn't have believed herself not three months ago. Marriage was a Hylian concept, an archaic, mainstream, thing, trapping a man and a woman together for every other reason but love. A marriage between two women had never been done before, not even among Nabooru's people. Technically, extremely technically, the Hylian Scriptures did not forbid it, but this was only because they were too sexist and corrupt for their own good. It forbade relations between _men_. All the forbidden sexual practices only pertained to men.

And yet, the Gerudos needed to continue. The outcasts, the ones who slept with men for pleasure, typically never returned, and obviously the Gerudo had that fucked-up gene, the one where one man was born every hundred years. And the last man who had been born was...

Ganondorf.

Nabooru's mind always went blank when the name entered her mind. Something about him terrified her beyond her soul, beyond her blood, beyond her pride as a Gerudo woman.

She knew she had to fix the population decrease. In the past, the women had gone to the city to market themselves as prostitutes, using various magic spells to disguise themselves, but this practice had grown out of popularity. None of the Gerudos wanted a dick in their cooch. This was a problem.

A spell?

"Val," said Nabooru. "We have to save our people."

"Nab, _please_," said Valja breathlessly, plunging Nabooru's head back down.

She would perform the greatest Gerudo act since Queen Namoria's emancipation of the Hylians.

Or it would be her undoing.

**

* * *

**

She painted, she painted, she lifted the brush, she put it down, it was her life, her life, to go on, she was failing, she knew that. Her life was a mess. Her father grew older and older, and fatter and fatter, and with each day passed, she knew she wasn't married, and she knew the Zoras knew she wasn't married, and all that she knew was that she wasn't married to Link, all because of the stupid, _stupid_, law. They didn't have to have children. She was fine with that. She moaned. Obviously the rest of the Zora, and especially her father, was not.

She thought of the Sages, of their time together, of Princess Zelda, of Chief Darunia, of Impa, of Queen Nabooru, of Saria, of Rauru, who was dead, and, of course, of Link.

Of Link was nothing new. Obviously. One only had to step inside her chambers to know what she thought of Link. Paintings and paintings, not all of Link, some of fairies, of Zoras, of her mother, but mostly, mostly, mostly of Link, shooting arrows, killing monsters, riding Epona. Of course, no one would know what she thought of Link. No one ever had to come in here. She left, three times a day, for meals, because it was her duty.

And her father had married. She didn't know _how_, her father was so ghastly and bulging, and his wife, her new "mother", Mykiss. There was celebration, of course.

She didn't care.

Why did her life seem so stale?

It would seem so much easier, so much more real, if she didn't spend her days as the Princess of Zora's Domain, of the Zoras. The Sage of Water, moreover.

The Sage of Water. She preferred not to think about being the Sage of Water. Not to say no one believed her; she hadn't tried everybody. She didn't care. She'd told her father, and that had been enough. He believed the actual story of the Imprisoning War only up to the point that Ruto had helped save Hyrule. None of the Zoras were expected to keep up with the ridiculous story of the Hero of Time's Arrows of Light, of the prophecy of the three Triforces finally coming together being fulfilled. All that mattered was that Ganondorf had been destroyed, and that Link and the leaders of all the sentient races of Hyrule had banded together to destroy him.

Unfortunately, all the sentient races of Hyrule had not banded together.

Saria, the Sage of the Forest, a little Kokiri girl from the Lost Woods.

Darunia, the Sage of Fire, the Chief of the Gorons of Death Mountain.

Impa, the Sage of Shadow, the only known remaining Sheikah, of the eerie Kakariko Village.

Nabooru, the Sage of Spirit, the Queen of the Gerudos from the western valley.

Rauru, the Sage of Light, a mysterious old man living in the Chamber of Sages.

Zelda, the Seventh Sage, the so-called bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom and the daughter of the King of Hyrule.

Link, the Hero of Time, and the so-called bearer of the Triforce of Courage.

And she, Ruto, the Sage of Water, the daughter of King Zora of Zora's Domain.

All the Zoras resumed their lives, untroubled by the rumors of how they'd been freed, waiting for the day their Lord Jabu-Jabu would finally return.

Princess Zelda...

**

* * *

**

Zelda walked. She walked lightly, the edges of her royal dress concealing her shoeless feet. It was dragging on the ground, but who really cared? She knew she'd catch it from Impa later, she thought to herself. It was freeing, somewhat, walking with no shoes, not picking up the tresses of her dress.

Something caught her eye as she walked past a tree, a flash of gray, sticking out in the greenery of the new Castle of Hyrule, and she narrowed her eyes. She pulled apart a bush to reveal a Stone of Gossip, one of those Sheikan clocks and some of the only remnants of their race (aside from Impa, of course). Zelda kicked it, mostly out of boredom. It jiggled cartoonishly for a moment, then stopped and the time, 7:34, rang in Zelda's head. She closed her eyes. 7:34.

What about?...

She remembered hearing something about a mask with the Sheikan symbol on it, that eye, that revealed the secrets of the Gossip Stones. She wondered if she could harness it with her telepathic abilities. Zelda clapped her hands and looked at the Gossip Stone.

_That eye_...

Zelda began to feel slightly uneasy.

The outline around the red eye seemed more defined now, and seemed to be growing... not bigger, but more, _more_, forceful, piercing, and Zelda cried out, suddenly.

_They say that, contrary to her elegant image, Princess Zelda of Hyrule Castle is, in fact, a tomboy!_

And the eye was completely normal again and the voice left Zelda standing there, blinking. Then he found herself inflating with rage. What kind of a WORD was that, anyway? What was that supposed to mean? And why did it sound so _excited_?

Zelda paused, brought her chin up, and bit down. She dusted off her dress. She really _wasn't_ a tomboy. She marched back towards her tower to get her shoes and to clean off the bottom of her dress.

**

* * *

**

Ruto frowned. Okay, so the princess wasn't involved in anything interesting.

An impish smile tugged at her lips. What about Link?

She took the still drying portrait of him out again, positioned it on the easel, and began to paint...

* * *

Link rode, silently, Din rising ever higher behind him, Epona trotting patiently towards Kokiri Forest. Why was he returning? The point of his days was to get away, get away from that place, to keep himself from thinking about the children, their purpose, their fate, his fate.

Kokiri Forest.

Farore.

What were those children? Were they cursed? Were they even children? They couldn't answer any of his questions...

**

* * *

**

Okay, maybe Zelda was more interesting.

**

* * *

**

"Princess, your father requests your attention at sixteen of the clock tomorrow," said Impa, after knocking.

Zelda smirked from her desk, still holding a quill over a piece of parchment. "I see he doesn't seem to request my attention anytime else."

Impa said nothing. There was nothing to say.

Zelda bit. "Why?"

"The King has organized a meeting among the leaders of Hyrule. You are to be there."

Zelda perked up. "Who's going to be there?"

"I should imagine, the leaders of the Zora, the Goron, and the Gerudo."

Zelda waited. "Is that it?"

"I believe so. Were you expecting anyone else?"

Zelda shrugged. "I don't know, I... is it just the leaders, or their families, too?"

Impa opened her mouth, then stopped. She thought, considered, and spoke. "The Zora King Zora, the Zora Queen Mykiss, and the Zora Princess Ruto. The Goron King Darunia, the Goron Queen Fila, and the Goron Prince Link. The Gerudo Queen Nabooru." At this, Impa shut her mouth, and she shut it well, eyeing Zelda.

Zelda bit down on her jaw equally as hard. "That _foolish_ man," she said, turning back around to her desk.

"You're just lucky I didn't tell his Majesty where you went last week," said Impa. "He could have had you arrested for treason."

Zelda spun around. "What in _Hyrule_ has been with you lately?"

Impa's eyes flashed. "The question, _Griselda_, is what has been with you!"

"What do you mean, _been_ with me? Because I went to Nabooru's wedding? That's what's with me?"

"You are representing your father, my Princess, and the entire Royal Family," Impa said thinly.

Zelda screamed. "I'm representing ME! Nabooru is my _friend_. She helped save HYRULE, Impa! She was a fellow Sage, Impa, I don't know how you can treat her this way!"

Impa said nothing. She watched Zelda, silently, nothing going through her head, too much, too much there to even take shape.

The Sage of Shadows's brain was filled with shadows.

**

* * *

**

Ruto breathed. An invitation to the castle. Hyrule Castle. She knew Hyrule was in turmoil... maybe it was just normal, maybe nothing would ever be perfect. Even before the Imprisoning War, as a child, she knew things hadn't been well. Even before Lord Jabu-Jabu had been cursed. Was that before the Gorons had been converted to Hylianism?

The _Gorons_.

Darunia, then she would paint Saria. Then, Rauru.

**

* * *

**

Sweat poured readily down Darunia's back so one would have thought it was raining. But it wasn't. He was sweating. He was climbing a mountain; necessary Royal Goron business was all that it'd said in the letter he'd left to Link and Fila. He wasn't climbing Death Mountain. He wasn't even in Hyrule anymore.

It had all started about five weeks ago, when that mysterious puppy had arrived in Goron City. The puppy was almost solid rock, and there had been a bustle of screaming when Lagoron tried to eat it only to find out it was alive. He brought it before Darunia.

The puppy made no sound. It was black, and at first Darunia thought it was a statue of some sort. But then the puppy jumped into Darunia's arms and a--what you would call a tongue-- a cold, dry, tongue--protruded out of what you would call its mouth, and licked Darunia's face. Darunia, taking advantage of his telepathy as a Sage, read the dog.

_Rock. Land. Ancient. Evil._

Darunia didn't know about an evil being, per se--he had believed Ganondorf did evil things, and even that he was possibly the King of Evil, but merely that he was misguided--but he did know about evil. And he didn't believe that this puppy had been cursed.

The puppy had then burst into an array of molten rock, leaving Darunia alone in his chambers. So he left, leaving Fila and Link the note. He hadn't been back in four weeks. He'd gone down the other side of Death Mountain, searching, and making notes, and making maps, and searching.

Now he was climbing a mountain.

It was cold, much colder than Hyrule and especially Death Mountain. To put this in perspective, to Darunia it was cold, but to humans it would have been quite normal. Gorons are used to high temperatures, bathing in the molten lava of Death Mountain Crater and enjoying the sulfur fumes that are exuded from the mountain. This area was not good for Darunia. He was not climbing an active volcano. Soon it would become too cold even for humans. A strange, white, substance would begin to fall very soon.

**

* * *

**

Saria wondered, wondered, sat in her house and wondered. She suddenly became angry. Her very title demanded knowledge. So why didn't she _know_?

She would have to ask Link what he'd been doing for the last seven years.

But _no,_ it was more than that. What was she? The other children were just that--children. Even Mido hadn't seemed to grow up. Nobody grew up. The Twins, the Know-it-all Brothers, the children had continued their sunny days in the woods, momentarily interrupted by the demons of the Forest Temple, a scary time for all, albeit, but only scary. Then it was back to their simple lives, occasionally noticing that Link was gone, had never come back, and this new man, this other man, had come, and he had not turned into a Stalfos, not yet, anyway.

Saria had not grown up physically. But she had grown up in her mind. She couldn't remember a time when she had not been herself, when she had not been green-haired, when she hadn't been playing with the Twins. And yet she remembered Link, the day he'd come, the day that Hylian woman had come to the forest, as if it were only yesterday...

* * *

Saria had woken up, with a start, and she sat for a moment, her breath turning to mist in the early morning air. She swallowed and woke up Bagu. He jumped and flew up to the ceiling, illuminating the room, and Saria screamed when she saw blood on her floor, leaking steadily from a robed figure. She stopped screaming, watching the blood pool out from the body, and cautiously lifted her bedcovers. She gave a sharp shiver in the cold, and she saw her breath again. Bending down, she reached a trembling hand towards the figure and quickly pulled the hood off.

It was a human, Saria was sure of it, but anything else was hard to discern. The hair was matted against the human's skull with drying blood. After a few moments, Saria realized she was still watching, and snapped to Bagu. "Bagu! Get... tell the Great Deku Tree! Go to him! Quick!" This was too important for Saria to worry about a moment's pain from being far away from her fairy. Bagu, after a moment's hesitation, zoomed out of the house, and Saria was bathed in darkness once more and the vague, dull, pain, in her stomach started, the feeling one got when far away from her fairy.

She lit a lantern (this was before she had her Forest Sage powers) and stopped breathing. Now there should have been no other sound. It was deathly quiet, except for a quiet--no, muffled, mewing--sound coming from the body. Saria crouched down again and listened. It was louder. She reached out, blindly, and felt until something caught in her hand, almost ball-ish. Carefully, Saria kept her hand there and brought her other hand in to explore. Not twenty seconds later, she was standing, holding a wailing baby wrapped in a colorless blanket, not sure entirely what to do.

Bagu flew back in. "He--" Bagu skidded to a stop in the air. "What on earth is that?"

Saria looked down at the crying mess she held in her arms. "I really don't know." She looked back at Bagu. "What'd the Deku Tree say?"

"He said to take the body to him. He told me to help you." Bagu crossed his arms. "It looks like I'll be doing most of the work, though."

Saria nodded, somewhat deadly. Bagu frowned. "Okay, let's do this." He flew down next to the body and rubbed his hands. Before Saria could blink, Bagu had the body hovering in the air at exactly her height.

Saria and Bagu stepped into the aurora. Without a word, they had made their way to the Deku Tree.

Now Saria breathed and remembered the body floating in front of the Deku Tree. Her cloak--for it was a woman, they discovered as her cloak fell on the ground, and the Deku Tree, without a word, the entire ceremony went by wordlessly, cleaned her until she was shining and naked. She was beautiful, Saria thought. She remembered looking down at the baby after the woman was safely entombed in the ground before the Great Deku Tree and placing a tender finger on his nose, quieting him. He was a big baby, fat, crying, bawling at the top of his lungs, almost as if he knew what had happened.

_Link us._

**

* * *

**

Impa sulked.

She didn't call it sulking, of course. Nobody else would have, either. To see the great Impa sulking would be like... like a Kokiri expressing sexual desire.

It wasn't done, was the point.

She didn't know, she didn't understand, and it wasn't like she alone in her confusion, either. People generally agreed that... acts... between two women or two men were sick, abominable; perhaps there had been some abuse in the perpetrators' pasts.

But two women getting married was beyond the pail. It couldn't, wouldn't, make a dent in Impa's mind. A man and a woman loved each other. That was how it went.

Except if you'd decided to be chaste, like Impa.

A formal letter from the Gerudo Valley had arrived, just minutes ago: Nabooru, politely declining the invitation to the Castle unless her wife, the Queen Valja, was invited to attend as well.

The _Queen _Valja. Ridiculous. Absurd. It was a joke. The only part that confused Impa was that Nabooru was deathly serious. Although she _was_ a free spirit, the Sage of the Spirit Temple, for Din's sake, she was deadly serious about things that mattered.

Impa secretly thought that all relations were sick. She wished there was another way for animals to repopulate themselves, but there wasn't, and the only thing she could do was to not engage in it herself... the world would keep turning. This conceit was closely echoed by the Archdeacon Priest, similarly chaste, and the enforcer of all religious law in Hyrule. The two were friendly enough, which was certainly saying a lot, considering the Archdeacon's position, but Impa felt he was a little fanatical. He, of course, held a fierce hatred for the Gerudos. Also, which did not surprise Impa in the slightest, he held a deep disregard for the Zoras, especially now that King Zora had cut all ties from the Royal Family after the events of the Imprisoning War. As for the Gorons, the Archdeacon had sanctioned the successful mission sent to them, but the Zoras had rejected these missionaries and agreed to make peace with the King by means of a policy of tolerance. Of course, the Archdeacon had been furious.

Impa sighed. The Archdeacon had his own problems to deal with. This wasn't it for her, not by a long shot. That boy...

**

* * *

**

_A knocking sound came from the door of Impa's stateroom. "Lady Impa?_" _A soldier's voice echoed out from the hallway. Impa breathed, composed herself, and said,_

_ "Come inside."_

_ The soldier opened the door and bowed. Standing next to him was a boy, about sixteen or seventeen, with white hair and red eyes, and although Impa couldn't explain why, her breath caught._

_ "This boy requested to see you, my Lady. Young Kasuto claims you're his mother." The soldier bowed again and left the room._

_ Impa set her jaw and turned her attention to the boy._

_ "I am sorry, my Lady, if I've interrupted you," the boy said, dropping to a knee._

_ "Get up," said Impa, more harshly than she'd intended. "I'm not the Princess." Her eyes fell on his style of dress. "Yes, that makes sense," she said, eying a maroon vest and a sort of royal blue loincloth that descended to the boy's knees. She felt a smile tugging at her lips, but she refused herself to smile. "Your hair gives you away."_

_ The boy put a hand in his shockingly white hair, grinning somewhat self-consciously._

_ "What of Mobiru?"_

_ Kasuto blinked._

_ "Your father," she said, hissing the last word._

_ Kasuto's manner changed immediately. He watched her carefully for a moment before saying, "I know. He died."_

_ Impa nodded. "I see." Her mouth shut. She said nothing else._

_ Kasuto, resilient, opened his mouth. "I came to serve the Royal Family--"_

_ "The Royal Family will not be attended to by a Gerudo," Impa said, closing her mouth tight again. Her mouth worked, and she turned around. She just met this Gerudo boy, this was ridiculous--_

_ "But..." Kasuto fell silent. "But it's my duty," he resumed quietly. "As a Sheikah."_

_ "Look at yourself," said Impa, still turned around. "You're not a Sheikah, you're a Gerudo." The word 'Gerudo' came out with a slight curl of her lip. It was subtle, but Impa heard it, and obviously so did Kasuto. Impa didn't care anymore. She refused to let herself care. "Go back to your tribe, boy. I'm sorry, but you are not welcome in Hyrule." Impa turned around and guided him, steelily and with a gloved hand on his back, to the door. Kasuto turned around. Impa wouldn't see his expression. "And tell _no one _who your mother is!" She closed the door roughly in Kasuto's face._

* * *

His face was not in her memory.

**

* * *

**

Darunia didn't know why he was climbing. But he climbed, he climbed, and flashes of people came to his eyes, breaking the blinding white of the blizzard that obscured his vision.

A woman, beautiful, of course she was beautiful, she was Fila, her eyes held a skeptical, toothy smile, smart and sharp, and her head was round, very round, and she was smooth, very smooth.

Link...

A boy, barely seven, almost like a smaller version of Darunia himself. His spikes were just beginning to come in, and Darunia felt a small pang at this memory. Where was he? He almost regretted putting his wife and son through this, not just the journey he'd embarked on, but putting them through being the wife and son to a Fire Sage.

And Link brought on... Link. A human, of course, not pure white, but almost, much lighter then Darunia and the rest of his people. Hair, darkish blond, and those clothes, even unlike the King's clothes and Zelda's clothes or Nabooru's or Impa's or Saria's... actually, they were quite similar to Saria's. All of their clothes were quite different.

Link, his Sworn Brother. He even felt a stab for him.

Darunia almost fell out of sheer surprise. His fingers fell far, very far, into those cursed crystals whose nature Darunia accepted as an example of the Gods' magic.

Flat land. Flat, snow-covered, land, but flat land.

Thank Din.

He pulled himself up easily, but carefully, because his vision was still impaired by the blinding whiteness of the snow. He couldn't even begin to wonder to which Goddess the snow's nature was attributed. (It was Nayru, but he didn't know that. Ruto would have known it, but to be fair, she thought the same of lava as Darunia thought of snow.)

To Darunia's great relief, the snow stopped very suddenly, revealing a sort of clearing, the top of the mountain, and not five feet in front of Darunia lay the yawning mouth of a small cave. Darunia walked in, ducking under to fit, and the cold disappeared behind him. He let out a deep sigh of pure, uninhibited, relief.

However, the light did, too. He performed a bit of magic and illuminated the room, revealing a shallow pool of water, steam rising steadily from it.

Hot springs. A wild grin spread over Darunia's face.

"Sage of Fire!"

The voice didn't seem to come from anywhere, yet something in Darunia knew in his heart it was coming from beneath the hot springs. Darunia balled his fists up and roared with all the might of a Goron, "I am the Sage of Fire! Show yourself!"

"I have no form, Sage of Fire. I am pleased you received my gift."

Darunia said nothing.

"I wish to ask a favor of you. I want you to take me back to your land, the great land of Hyrule."

"Who are you?" said Darunia, his suspicion mounting.

"I have no name." Darunia realized the voice had no qualities, none to speak of, and it wasn't even speaking a language. Was he even hearing it?

"What are you?"

"You will find out when you take me to Hyrule," the voice said. "And so will I."

Darunia quickly realized he had no choice. His legs felt wooden, and he suddenly felt sad, deeply sorrowful, and he bit down on his jaw to keep from exploding into tears. He had to leave.

He turned and walked out of the cave. He climbed down the mountain. Then he slept.

**

* * *

**

All of them were sulking, Ruto realized. Well, most of them. She, Ruto, definitely was. Impa was. Link was. Saria... was. Nabooru... sort of. Darunia, no. He had a purpose.

Rauru was gone.

Ruto wasn't too upset about this. The old man had not been very bearable. Then again, their time as Sages seemed to be incomparable to time spent in Hyrule. She'd awakened, completely fresh and resolved to spend the rest of her days as an incorporeal being protecting the Water Temple and praying to the Goddesses.

It frightened her. She didn't tell her father this part for that very reason.

She wondered where Link had gone, for those seven years.

She shook her head and moaned. Morning could not come soon enough. Then, the banquet.

Social contact.


	2. Royal Night

**Chapter Two**

**Royal Night**

_18 Farore's Moon, 3711_

The absolute truth was that Zelda didn't completely want to go downstairs. But, then again, she was awfully hungry.

And she was the one who had reinvited Nabooru and Valja--it just wouldn't be right to leave them down there to the disapproving masses of the dinner table. She sighed, sealed the letter she'd been writing, and walked across the room to her wardrobe.

What--to--wear?...

The door knocked.

"Who is it?" Zelda called, her eyes still going from outfit to outfit. The door opened and Zelda was slightly taken aback when a Sheikan boy walked in.

He was indeed dressed very strangely for a Sheikah, but he just had to be one. In fact, he looked almost like Impa... although that wasn't saying much considering Impa was the only Sheikah Zelda had ever seen. The only difference was that he was a boy, probably about her and Link's age, and he was wearing a maroon vest and a long blue loincloth. He was very handsome, Zelda noted.

"Your Highness, I wish to introduce myself to you. My name is Kasuto."

Zelda's mouth worked. "And--and are you... a _Sheikah_?"

Kasuto hesitated--noticeably--but then nodded. "The King has granted me permission to serve the Royal Family."

Zelda looked at him, still somewhat skeptical. "Are you related to Impa?

"I have heard of the great Impa, yes, your Majesty, but I have had no previous contact with her."

Zelda nodded, slowly. Her eyes fell on his clothes. "Where do you come from?"

Kasuto swallowed, and Zelda made another note of it. "I was born in a village called Demrenl, on the outskirts of Hyrule."

"Interesting," Zelda said, her lips pressed thin. "I've never heard of it."

Kasuto's ears turned red, and Zelda was surprised by an urge to laugh and coo at the same time. "We were a simple village, your Majesty, under no specific jurisdiction."

"Well then," Zelda said, now hesitant to condemn the boy, "I expect you'll be working in the Kakariko Graveyard?"

Kasuto nodded. "Yes, your Highness."

Zelda smiled. "Excellent. It was a pleasure to meet you, Kasuto." She held out her hand for Kasuto to take.

Kasuto smiled, clearly relieved, and took the princess's hand lightly and kissed it. "It was pleasure to meet you as well, Princess. I look forward to seeing you again." He took his hand away, bowed, and left, making sure to close the door quietly behind him.

Zelda stood, watching the door, not sure what to think. There was something Kasuto wasn't telling her, and he wasn't a good liar, not at all. She didn't need her telepathy to tell her that much. She yawned and walked back to her wardrobe. She decided on a maroon, one of her silk dresses, in honor of Kasuto. She had just slipped off her nightgown when the door swung open, eliciting a shriek from both Zelda and Link, who had turned away and was holding his hands out in front of him.

"LINK!"

"Sorry! Sorry, Zelda!"

"Don't you knock? Get out!"

Link obliged, meekly, and Zelda turned back to the dress, shaking...

**

* * *

**

The Archdeacon Priest did not have a good back. He'd overheard the peasants, one day on a pilgrimage to the Kakariko Graveyard, muttering about his supposed imminent death. They would get what they asked for, an eternity in the Dark Realm with Ganon, the pig monster, the Devil King as their new torturer, but the Archdeacon was good. He begged them to take back their mutterings, to repent, to pray to the Goddesses for forgiveness, but the godless peasants laughed.

The Archdeacon's reputation had curiously been eroded over the seven year unimaginable coming of the Dark One. Such a time, the Archdeacon thought, would have strengthened the people's faith in the Gods, but what transpired was exactly the opposite. Ganon had shaken their faith, and they did not believe even when the three bearers of the Triforce had come together, when the Seven Sages had banished Ganon forever to the Dark Realm.

The Archdeacon's faith, too, had been shaken. He had believed with all his heart that when the Triforce came together, the world would enter its final and everlasting stage of peace and prosperity. The Goddesses would come down and the sinners, the Gerudo and the Zoras and the Godless, would be incinerated by the divine glory of Din, of Farore, of Nayru.

No such thing happened. The Triforce came together, and Ganon was sealed off to the Dark Realm, but things had returned to the state they had been before the Age of Darkness. The skies had cleared, the monsters--for the most part--had ceased, and Zora's Domain returned to its watery state. And at this the Archdeacon remembered that the Triforce would not come together, would not work completely until a person with all three traits in balance, a person equally strong, wise, and brave, laid his hands on the Triforce.

But the Archdeacon knew it, knew in his bones, that the end days were coming, that they had to be coming, because even if the Triforce Bearer had not come, the three owners of the Triforce had come together. Hyrule was still rife with sin, almost worst now. The already godless Zoras had shattered their alliance with the Holy Family, possibly their only hope of salvation, and the Queen Witch of the Gerudos had destroyed any meaning there ever was to the sacred bond of marriage. The world had to be coming to an end. It was the only explanation for all the degradation, the filth, the spitting in the faces of the Divine--

"The Archdeacon Priest, Faroro Mudora Castlava," the King's voice boomed. The Archdeacon looked up, startled. The room had suddenly filled up, and the guests stood obediently behind their chairs, watching the Archdeacon.

The Archdeacon smiled, shakily, and stood up. He was well aware of the minute that passed as he brought himself to a standing position, and tried not to meet the eyes of the easily-standing youth around the table.

"May the Goddesses bless you all," the Archdeacon started. "The Holy Family of Hyrule and I welcome you." He started to his right. "...Link, the Hero of Time."

Link blushed. The boy had never really gotten used to the high class of the Castle, but he was a good boy, not devout, but not sinful, either, and he had vanquished the Prince of Darkness into His Realm.

The Archdeacon's eyes moved to the next two seats, which seemed to have no one standing behind them but did indeed have two fluttering blue balls of light above them.

"Sorry, Archdeacon, sir!" said a small voice, and it had come from the slightly darker one.

The Archdeacon smiled. The fairies and spirits of the Forest, of course, were symbols of Farore, the Goddess of Life and Courage. "Saria, the Sage of the Forest, and Mido, of the Kokiri."

"And Bagu!" the small voice yelled again.

"And Virtina!" another one yelled, this one much higher.

Everyone laughed.

The Archdeacon, still smiling, moved his eyes to the next chair, which was also decidedly empty.

"My apologies, your Majesty," said a smooth-faced Goron woman standing two chairs away, her arm around a smaller Goron boy. "Darunia is away on Royal business. He was unable to attend."

The King bowed.

"We shall pray for Chief Darunia's safe return," said the Archdeacon. He indicated the woman. "The Chief's wife, Fila, and their son, the prince Link, of the Gorons."

The Archdeacon's smile froze, and justifiably so, as he moved his eyes to the next chair. Nabooru and Valja, the Whores of the Desert, stood at the opposite end of the table of the Archdeacon, holding hands and watching the Archdeacon with sultry grins on their painted faces. The Archdeacon cleared his throat. "The Queen Nabooru and Sage of Spirits, and her attendant Valja, of the Gerudo." The Whores continued smiling, but the Archdeacon could see it had affected them harshly, and he moved on, nevertheless unsatisfied with his blow.

"The King Zora, his new wife Mykiss, and the princess Ruto and Sage of Water, of Zora's Domain." Ruto sat next to the Archdeacon Priest, who had no ill will towards the Zoran princess, who seemed to reluctantly follow her father's ridiculousness and a Sage through and through.

King Zora's whiskers twitched.

"We welcome you, I, the Archdeacon Priest, the Princess Griselda Nohansen Hyrule, affectionally called Zelda, her attendant and the Sage of Shadows, Impa, and the King of Hyrule, his Majesty Colfax Nohansen Hyrule."

* * *

They sat as follows around the table: Zelda, her father, the Archdeacon, Ruto, King Zora, Mykiss, Valja, Nabooru, Fila, Link the Goron, an empty chair, Mido, Saria, Link, and Impa.

Link had just pulled his seat out to sit down when Impa's sharp voice came: "Your Majesty Zora, you cannot sit next to your wife!"

Link looked up. The rotund Zora actually looked alarmed--he looked to his daughter for help, then to everyone else, who said nothing. Link scratched his head.

"I'm afraid Impa is right, Zora," said the King, looking somewhat amused. "Switch with--"

"Valja," said Zelda instantly. "Nabooru and Valja can't sit next to each other, either."

"Zelda--"

"Look, just have Zora switch with Valja, all right?" said Zelda, glaring at the King.

The table waited for what seemed like an eternity as the poor King Zora, mindlessly obese, waddled his way over to the chair next to Nabooru. Valja had breezily walked over to the seat between Ruto and Mykiss, who did not look very pleased.

Link leaned over to Impa. "I don't get it."

Impa looked at him for a moment and smiled--he was possibly the only person, besides Zelda, whom Impa would smile for. "My boy, husbands and wives don't sit next to each other. It's practice."

Link shrugged. "Apparently wives and wives don't sit next to each other, either." At this, Impa's face went hard. Link swallowed. "Sorry."

**

* * *

**

Ruto. Ruto, Ruto, Ruto. She kicked the wall, hard, and immediately froze, her eyes wide.

But no soldiers came. She relaxed, sighed desperately, and brought herself to a sitting position. It wasn't that she was in love. She was pining. She had to pine. Pining was mature. Watching Link all night, desperate for some eye glance, was not mature. In fact, it was immature.

Ruto moaned. This place was too Jabu-damned dry.

She would just have to pine.

**

* * *

**

"I'm bored, Saria."

Saria bit down hard, trying to keep herself from yelling at Mido. She kept her attention on the setting sun and tried to answer him without losing her temper.

She wondered what Link was doing...

**

* * *

**

Link, as usual, wasn't doing anything remotely interesting. Nabooru and Valja were intentionally desecrating the Temple of Time, but it was late at night and nobody was there. Link was in a sense desecrating the castle too, but he desperately needed this. He came and immediately burst into tears. What was he? Who was he? His life, ripped into shreds, he was seventeen, he really _was _seventeen, it wasn't like that bizarre, nightmarish time, seven years ago (or three months ago?) when he'd fought through the Temples, saving Saria, Ruto, Darunia, Impa, and Nabooru, when he'd destroyed Ganon.

A boy. A youth. He was supposed to like girls. Wasn't he? Wasn't he? He remembered, deep down, the feeling, not necessarily when he first saw Sheik, but when Sheik transformed into Princess Zelda. He'd been sick--sick to his stomach. Not a good feeling. He wanted Sheik, not Zelda. Sheik. Sheik. That Mystery. The Question.

The door knocked. Link jumped. "Coming," he said, croakily and still somewhat out of breath. He grabbed his tights up around his middle and threw his white undertunic on. He ran to the door and opened it.

The seventeen-year-old in him went hard again.

White hair, long white hair, red eyes, body suit, eye, crying eye, on his chest, the chest, shoes, eyes, him.

A boy, about his age. He was smiling. Link smiled back, weakly. His heart was thundering under his chest, and Link sort of scratched his chest with his hand in a strange attempt to mask the heartbeat from the boy.

"Are you Link?" the boy said. Were his eyes... dancing? His voice had a strange wisp of an accent to it, something Link couldn't quite place.

Link swallowed and nodded.

The boy grinned again. "I'm Kasuto. It's an honor to meet you, Hero of Time."

Dazed, Link took the boy's hand, which was stretched out. Their hands touched and they shook, slowly. Link swallowed at Kasuto's touch. The warmth of Kasuto's skin filled Link, almost burned him, but he held on, desperately. His sweat and Link's sweat mixed and they stood, holding each other's hands, Kasuto smiling, Link staring, and all of a sudden--

What in Din's name are you _doing_?

Link snapped his hand back and wiped his hand on his tunic. "It was nice meeting you, Kasuto." He started to close the door.

"Wait!" Kasuto pushed the door open again. "Don't you even want to know who I am?"

Link did. He shrugged. This... why was this man--boy--so interested in him?

"I'm the new Sheikah," said Kasuto.

"Excellent," said Link, and he started to close the door again.

"Link!" Kasuto said, and here he sounded like Zelda. Link opened the door.

"Let's take a walk," the Sheikah boy said. "Get dressed."

Link stared at him. "Why?"

Kasuto just grinned. "Look, Hero, just meet me down in the Great Hall in twenty minutes." Link saw his finger coming in slow motion and could do nothing. Kasuto bopped him on the nose with his finger and grinned impishly. "Seeya." He turned and walked abruptly out of Link's view, down the hall.

Link stood for a second, staring at the spot where Kasuto had been, and then he slowly closed the door.

Twenty minutes.

**

* * *

**

Nabooru was in a state. Many states, actually. Currently she was in a heightened state of arousal. She was also, however, in a state of wild, romantic, boiling, love. She hadn't thought of her kingdom in weeks. The Archdeacon called her selfish. She knew she was being selfish, but everyone needed to be selfish at one point. And as for the Archdeacon, all he needed was a good lay.

If anyone would lay him.

They talked. She and Valja, intertwined, after sex, in a pew in the Temple of Time, makeup smeared, hair tousled, sweaty, shiny, they breathed, one, and two, and both. They talked, with no subject, no point, no hate, no hate. Her wife. A loaded word, wife. Property. That little woman who stands in the background and cooks.

But they were each other's wives. Two wives, equally distant, but that also meant they were equally close. There was nothing and nobody in between them.

Nabooru was old, older than the other Sages. She was thirty. Rauru--had been the oldest, but now Nabooru beat him. Rauru had been eighty-three. Ruto was eighteen. Impa--all right, Nabooru was by far not the eldest of the Sages. Impa was forty-six. Darunia was fifty-three. Saria was--Saria. Ageless, sexless, child, seven? But not. She had entered a suddenly double state of immortality upon becoming a Sage. Zelda and Link were seventeen.

"They have to tell their story," Nabooru said sleepily but happily, looking into her beloved's eyes.

"Who?" Valja said, in exactly the same way.

"The Sages. And Link. Their story, between 3704 and 3711. The rise of Ganondorf. The Dark Age."

Nabooru's story was nothing. She, more than anyone, more than even Link, had lost seven years. She'd seen the witches, and then she saw Link, the kid, grown up, and then she was a Sage. She needed a wife. She needed stability. She needed no chaos.

Zelda, Impa.

Link.

Saria?

Darunia?

Ruto?

**

* * *

**

The story continued. And sitting there, in the Room of Reckoning, Zelda would of course never admitted that she felt like a grown-up. But now there was respect, and there she sat, between her father and the Archdeacon. The Zoras, Zora, Mykiss, and Ruto, filled up the other side of the round table. (The Room of Reckoning was rather small and unintimidating despite its name. It was intended for small affairs like this.) Zelda caught Ruto's eye and gave her a warm smile. Ruto swallowed but straightened herself up and smiled back.

"Now, Zora," said the King, his eye twitching noticeably. "I beg you to reconsider your ties to the Royal Family."

"And, your Majesty, we beg you to reconsider your ties to the Hylian Church," the Archdeacon cut in.

"Please, Archdeacon, this is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about," said the King. He turned to Zora. "What do you wish, Zora?"

King Zora's whiskers twitched. "I demand you take back the ridiculous notion that my daughter is a Sage and had anything to do with your ridiculous Triforce!"

Ruto shivered. "Daddy..."

Zelda looked at Ruto and moved her eyes to Zora, but he didn't seem to have heard his daughter.

The King opened his mouth, closed it, considered, and spoke. "Ganon is gone. Does that not count for anything?"

"Of course it does. Colfax, nobody could be prouder of my daughter than I am for doing her part to destroy the Evil King. She used her magic--her own magic, not by any means of your Din, or Farore, or Nayru. I demand you recall the title of Sage, Colfax! You are trespassing on the ideas of our treaty."

The King opened his mouth, but the Archdeacon was there first. "Your Majesty, look at the truth, the proof that is there before your eyes. The Gods have spoken, their will has been done. The Seven Wise Men have sealed the King of Evil in the Sacred Realm. Surely--"

"No!" Zora roared, pounding a fin on the table. "I will not be ridiculed! Colfax, you are making an enemy!"

Zelda cleared her throat. "Zora, the treaty was an agreement to respect each others' beliefs. Why won't you respect ours?"

"Because--you--are--imposing--them--on--me--and--my--people!" Zora wheezed.

Zelda's eyes flashed. "With all due respect, Your Majesty, we have our beliefs and you have yours about what happened that night, why can't we just leave it at that?"

"Ruto is not a Hylian! Nabooru and Saria are not Hylians for that matter, either!"

"It is not a matter of being Hylian..." the Archdeacon was saying as loud as he could, which was not very loud, amidst the cacophony. "It is the truth, the gospel truth, the Triforce and the Princess both have spoken."

"Stop."

Zelda turned her head. It was barely audible, and the others hadn't seemed to hear it until Ruto said it again.

"_Stop_," Ruto said, louder.

She had tears in her eyes.

"Why, darling, what's wrong?" Mykiss said concernedly, putting her arm around the princess. Ruto didn't react to this gesture. Ruto looked up into all of their eyes.

"I'm right here, I am the Princess of the Zoras and I helped get rid of Ganon." She breathed, and the four of them watched her. Zelda watched her, unbelieving. "This isn't about me, and you know it. It's about _you_, Daddy. All you care about--_all _of you--is your pride, your religion, your reputation. None of you know what it was like to awaken as a Sage, to be in that Chamber, to open the door to another world. What _difference_ does it make what that world is called? What difference does it make who gives who strength? Who cares if Rauru got his strength from Din or I got strength from Jabu-Jabu or Saria got strength from the Deku Tree, or Nabooru got strength from herself?"

She broke down quietly again, and nobody could say anything after that. The King stood up. "I think," he said, "we will have to continue this conversation when we are all feeling a little more rested."

Zelda sighed. Zora got up angrily and waddled obesely out of the room and Mykiss, smiling apologetically, followed him. Ruto was still standing, breathing heavily, looking down at the ground.

Zelda stood up and hugged Ruto. "I think you need some rest," she said, smiling into Ruto's teary face. Ruto nodded and walked out of the room. Zelda followed her. She didn't want to have to deal with the Archdeacon, or her father.

* * *

Three stories underneath the window to the Room of Reckoning, Kasuto sat, his hand pressed down on the wet grass. The moon, full, was behind a cloud, and Kasuto shivered.

He was full of questions.

He ran a hand through his hair. He should be watching the graveyard... but this he couldn't pass up.

Then again, what on Earth was he doing flirting with a Hylian boy? The Hero of Time, no less. Those boys, the countless Gerudo boys he'd fellated, had depleted his self-worth, and also fulfilled the stereotype, the sinful, lusty, perverted Gerudo.

Nature was neither for him nor against him.

What the hell did he mean by that?

His life, his existence, was a question. His mother, a sex-starved Sheikah, his father, who had done those things with a woman--and all women--willingly. He shuddered. To live in this world...

What world _did he_ live in? His mouth worked. _Don't cry. Don't cry. I'll hate you if you cry. _Why did he have to be such a woman?

Women. Women, women, women. Something else. Breeding. More humans. There were stories of Gerudo men raping women and stealing their babies in the past. It was a strange, alien, story to Kasuto, and especially unpalatable for him to think of a women _pregnant_. Ridiculous. Men got pregnant. It was ridiculous.

Kasuto was from the unholy union of a man and a woman. Not popular in Gerudo society.

"Ka...Kasuto?"

Kasuto gasped and stood up, wiping his face down. Link stood in front of the bushes, watching Kasuto quizzically.

"I was looking for you," Link said, almost warmly. Kasuto let out a reluctant laugh and sniffed.

"Sorry." He stepped out of the bushes, and Link swallowed.

Kasuto almost deflated. Why should he even bother? But, watching Link, Kasuto felt his prick soften, and... it felt pathetic and cliché to say it, but his prick softened, and he didn't want to fuck Link, well, he did, but he wanted to kiss him, to love him, to know him.

"Are you okay?" Link said. Kasuto felt his mouth spread into a helpless grin--not amused, not flirty, but genuine, touched, and Kasuto almost cried again at Link's surprisingly tender words. Stupidly youthful, stupid, but Kasuto, Kasuto, Link, Link, Link was the link to Kasuto.

A stupid, impish, love grin.

**

* * *

**

Link didn't know what had so suddenly destroyed his inhibitions, but he found himself wishing. Not that he needed to wish, because Kasuto was beside him, and the two were bobbing gently down the walkway around Hyrule Castle, but he felt his mind opening up, wishing, wishing for a song, a beautiful song, life was just that, and right now he needed music to his life.

**

* * *

**

Link needed to be aware of his body. He was more than this thing, this Hero, this green-capped, green-tuniced, white-tighted, sword-toting, horse-blazing, thing. He was a boy. A scared boy. He was very scared. Not of monsters, but about things that mattered, about life and love and sex and Kasuto.

Link pulled off his Kokiri cap and ran a hand through his dirty blond hair, which had become quite grimy since he'd last bathed in Zora Stream. He shook his head, letting his hair fall in front of his eyes. He knew hair like that was supposed to be dashing, but he couldn't feel less dashing. He wanted sex, but he felt that whoever propositioned him for it would be lying, lying just to get to his body, which he knew was contradictory, but he knew underneath it all would be that desire, and not that he believed anyone would desire him, but he feared it was all they did. He was ten, still ten, even after seven years, well maybe not ten, seventeen, but he wasn't a boy, he wasn't a youth, he was little, tiny, foolish, immature, undesirable.

He pulled off his green tunic and tossed it on the ground next to his cap. He put a hand to his face and felt stubble. That, at least was normal. He kicked off his boots and proceeded to pull down his tights. There, there it was, the reason he wasn't a boy. Or at least not a child. It was his, his, and only his, and they had been through such trying times together, he and his prick. He handled it, flipping it this way and that, amidst a mound of dirty blond hair that almost reminded him of Zora's Fountain the way it trickled up his waistline and up his belly and up to his chest and seemed to fill out a little more, all right maybe it was the other way around, but there it was. He yawned and pulled off his white undertunic. There. He was naked. Completely naked. He lay down on the ground, closed his eyes, and spread his arms and legs out. Here he was, this was him, him, and he felt the breeze tickling under his balls and the hair under his arms, and he breathed through his nose.

He didn't know where he was, but he didn't especially care.

**

* * *

**

Zelda sighed. To write, write, soothed her jagged nerves. She decided to switch to a different writing utensil--the inked quill smeared and messed up her words, frustrating her.

She wrote, and wrote, and was somewhat but altogether not too surprised at what she saw...

**

* * *

**

And Kasuto took off his clothes, his skintight top with the Sheikah symbol on it, his tights, his everything, and he lay down, his long white hair lay splayed on the ground like some grand albino peacock. The red, pure red, of his eyes bulged out but not actually, they burned and started at the stars, starry-eyed, sparkling and boiling, bloody, pure, pigmentless, his soul.

Hair--hair--hair started up from his ankles, and only Link would have noticed it, for the hair was, like the hair on his head, stark white, and the hair spread up his bony thighs to an explosion around his dick and balls, thinned out and ran upwards, fizzling out towards the middle of his torso.

And his skin and body was white, pale, and thin--there was virtually almost no evidence of his Gerudo lineage, unless you counted his desire for men, which technically was debatable--obviously this was the norm for Gerudo men, but Link was obviously the same way. The fact was that the only name for such behavior in the Hylian culture was "Gerudo"--the actions of Nabooru's Gerudo were well known, and Gerudos were just that--Gerudos, disgusting, evil, sinful, fire-haired, witches, Gerudos. If men did it they were called Gerudesses.

Hyrule knew nothing of the male Gerudos. And for that matter, neither did the female Gerudos.

Kasuto spread himself, opened his body to the sky, felt the wind tickle the hair under his arms, and he felt his body, his vulnerability, his penis, his all, his him, and he lay this way, and then he lost all sense of time.

**

* * *

**

He didn't know how it had come to this. After a while, they'd stopped talking, perhaps because they ran out of things to say, but it didn't really matter, because talking about nothing was the same as not talking at all and it held the same atmosphere, of heat, and of pure, unadulterated love.

And now they lay, under a tree, completely naked to each other, staring into each other, silently, unsmiling, breathing heavily. Link closed his eyes slowly and opened them again.

"I love you," his mouth said, plainly, none of the words emphasized.

"I love you," said Kasuto in the same way.

Link's mind began to awaken again. He lay there, unbelieving, loving Kasuto, unbelieving, loving Kasuto with all his fervor and being, and he had already done that but now he was still loving him. He found himself wishing again.

He wished he and Kasuto were married.

He wished he was a woman.

No, he realized. It wasn't that he didn't wish he was a woman, but he could just as easily wish that Kasuto were a woman, to fix it. And he didn't want Kasuto to be a woman anymore than he wanted to be a woman. And in that moment, it didn't matter that Kasuto was a man, that he was a man, they just were, lying there, completely in love.

Kasuto leaned forward and whispered in Link's ear, even though there was nobody around. "I want to take you back to my home."

"Where's that?"

Kasuto grinned and jumped up, his dick flopping up with his body. "Get dressed, butt-boy. We're going on a moonlight journey."

**

* * *

**

He'd been taking his nightly constitutional around the castle when he'd heard it. Grunting, crying, gasping, and immediately the Archdeacon Priest knew he had to get away, and quick. He didn't dare to see who it was, behind the bushes, under that tree, but when he realized that both of the voices were male, his rage got the better of him and he bent down his frail body to peek. He immediately recoiled.

He didn't know how he knew, his eyes were not good, not good at all, and not at night, but the two men--boys--were Link, the Hero, the Saintly Hero chosen by the Gods, and Kasuto, the new Sheikah boy.

He had to stop them. They had to repent, it was the only way they'd be stopped from going to the Dark Realm for all eternity. He looked again, and they were done, and they lay on the ground, their arms around each other, staring at each other. The Archdeacon suddenly vomited, rather loudly, he thought, but the two youths didn't seem to notice. He rushedly, sweatingly, tried to wipe the yellow substance off himself, and only succeeded halfway.

"Get dressed. We're going on a moonlight journey," the Sheikah boy said, jumping up, and the Archdeacon looked away again when his genitalia were apparent. Then, suddenly, he knew he _really _had to leave, right now. What would they do to him? They'd kill him, but not before raping him, probably, the deluded, evil, men. The Archdeacon didn't bother wasting any time with trying to get up. He started to crawl away, slowly, furious and nauseous, he was crawling on the ground, _he_, the Archdeacon Priest. He stood up, slowly, and saw the two, fully dressed, run out from the opposite side of the bushes, away from him, towards the stables.

He had to follow them.

* * *

Anyone watching the scene would probably have followed along, too. The steady sound of hoofbeats, at one level rushed and excited with the power of young love, and another level slow, relaxed, deliberate, so that it was hard to tell at what speed exactly the horses were even going. And then, the twist--for it was too dark to see the first twist, that the lovers were two men--was another horse, as slow and hunched over as its poor master, for you could see the body's shape, hunched over in the moonlight, following the two men tiredly.

Kasuto and Link were filled with their own passion, for each other, with excitement at the reality of love and contradictory romanticism of this reality. The Archdeacon was filled with a wild rage, or at least that's what he thought it was. But he was raging, raging with this new flood of hormones, with curiosity, and, of course, self-hatred.

But for now, he was following Link and Kasuto across Hyrule Field, in the shadows of the moonlight. One thing that had surprised him, as he and Teruto, his horse, silently crept along the shadowy grass of the field, was the disappearance of the Stalchildren when Ganon had come. He'd come to the conclusion that Ganon had been so evil he'd scared the skeletons away. He shook his head and kept his eyes on Link and Kasuto, who had been leading the Archdeacon towards Kakariko Village.

**

* * *

**

Link said nothing. Neither boy had said anything to each other since they left the castle. But now Kasuto grinned at him as Epona and Arion clip-clopped into Kakariko Village. Link was, for now, surprised that the stigma of sleeping with a man hadn't hit him yet. But every time Kasuto grinned at him, or Link just watched that white hair being blown by the cool summer wind, he died inside, just a little.

"Death Mountain, right?" said Kasuto quietly, breaking the silence of the witching hour. Link looked up at the active volcano that towered over the Sheikah village, where he'd met Darunia so long ago, destroyed the King of the Dodongos, saved Darunia from the Fire Temple, Death Mountain, and that name seemed to echo through his mind, as if it had more significance even then the things he'd done inside it, almost as if it echoed through his entire timeline, his children, the world--

Link coughed and concentrated on Kasuto.

"Yes, Kasuto, that's Death Mountain, all right."

Kasuto smirked and squeezed Arion with his thigh, sending her into a relieved gallop across the tiny village to the Death Mountain gates. Link leaned forward, squeezing Epona almost immediately afterwards, and she sped after the pair, similarly relieved from the cantering, in an almost undulating motion, and at that moment, everything was beautiful, and between Link and Kasuto there was that wavelength, that wave, under the moonlight, and the two of them galloped up Death Mountain, and only Kasuto knew where they were going.

**

* * *

**

Kasuto didn't know what to expect. He knew, at this time, dinner would not be over yet in the least, and the boys would still be dancing (obviously the boys), but how they would regard him was the mystery. Link had no idea, still had no idea, only watched him, starry-eyed, and Kasuto did the same, but his eyes didn't twinkle. Back... back to what? Back from what? Why had he gone? To find himself, he'd already been this outcast, this spawn of woman, and he felt like the Gerudos had been glad to see him go look for that woman.

But he was a Gerudo, too.

* * *

They stopped, suddenly, and Link asked lowly, "What's this?"

"A cave," Kasuto said, jumping off Arion and pushing a rock to one side. "The Gerudos' hideout."

Link looked baffled, for once. "The... Gerudos? But they live--"

"I know, to the west, I've heard." Kasuto had disappeared into the pitch-black of the cave and Link followed obligingly, flipping himself off Epona with a comforting pat. After one step into the cave, he immediately became disoriented and wondered why it was so dark, but with a stabbing regret, he remembered that Navi was gone.

"Are you okay?" said Kasuto. A flame lit up and Link saw Kasuto's face through a lantern, his hand on Link's early-morning stubble.

"I'm... fine," said Link, shivering. Why was he suddenly caring so much about this, now?

"No, what's wrong?" said Kasuto, taking his hand off Link's face and putting it on his shoulder.

"My fairy... she'd usually light the way for me in caves," Link said. He brushed it off. "Whatever, it doesn't matter."

Kasuto frowned. "It does."

Link almost cried then.

"I want to know everything about you," Kasuto said, and Link felt Kasuto take his hands up in his, the lantern on the ground, sending up a vague stream of light. Link felt a brush of his hair, and it was Kasuto's other hand, and they stood, their foreheads slowly leaning forward to each other. Link didn't cry. Kasuto brushed his face again, picked the lantern up, and proceed to lead Link down the cave by the hand.

"I want to show you this place first."

"How long have you been here?" said Link.

"We just arrived here. We're a nomadic tribe," said Kasuto. "Believe me, we were equally surprised to find out there was a race with the same name as us living here."

"Are you all male?" Link said, unsure.

Kasuto laughed tolerantly. "Yes. All men."

"So, you're like the Gerudos, you're... all this way?"

"What way?"

Link was about to say 'Gerudo', but realized it was completely redundant, and, at the same time, completely appropriate. "You have sex with each other."

Kasuto didn't say anything for a moment. "I mean, yes and no. Do all the men in Hyrule generally have sex with all the women?"

"I guess... not, they mostly marry each other. Sex is pretty much... bad?"

"Yes, well, there's your dogma for you," Kasuto said, sounding somewhat amused. "I mean..."

Link didn't say anything.

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine. I... guess I don't really know what's happening right now. I should be disgusted right now. I've never had any sexual feelings towards anyone else. Not a woman, or a man. At least I don't think a man. I... never mind."

"What? Link, you can tell me anything, anything."

"I've done it to myself, you know, but not to anything. There's never been a picture in my mind, and that was always in the Hylian scriptures, 'Thou shalt not pleasure thyself to thy neighbor's wife'. I wasn't doing it to anyone, was the thing."

Kasuto didn't say anything, and Link started to sweat.

"See I told you I shouldn't have told you, now--"

"No, whatever, I don't care, everyone does it," Kasuto said quickly. "I... I'm sorry, I just don't know what to say, I don't want to make it seem worse than it is by saying everything's going to be all right, because I really don't know if everything's going to be all right."

"It's fine, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry, I'm sorry."

Link giggled. "Listen to us."

"Shh..." Kasuto put his finger up to his lips, and Link loved those lips. Then Link listened.

Music.

* * *

Kasuto wanted to ask Link if he ever just thought about the word 'music', how beautiful that word was, and how ancient and prophetic, but he didn't want to interrupt the actual Gerudoen music, which Link had doubtlessly never heard before in his life. It was beautiful to Kasuto, although not necessarily beautiful.

* * *

"It's amazing," Link said, after a while.

"Dance with us," Kasuto said, dragging Link forward, and the passageway exploded! The music was there, just there, and the passageway had blossomed into a gigantic stone ballroom, and things Link had never seen or heard before in his life danced and throbbed and sweated before him, and his eyes opened wide--swirling, red and blue cloth, drumbeats so fast they sounded like a hummingbird's blood pumping, ocarinas, violins, harps, screaming, singing, and men, men, men, thin, beautiful, lovely, sweating, men, men, men, no boys, or were they men? They were moys, ben, man-boys, or possible boy-men, and Link had never, ever, seen anything like it, but as he gazed at what the Archdeacon Priest would have called Hell, he knew this was his Heaven.

**

* * *

**

The Archdeacon Priest almost felt his heart fail, there, crouched down behind a bar table, peering at the madness through a tiny hole. He was safe, he knew, why was he still here, why wasn't he gone, he would be taken, taken by these demons...

Yet three hours later, he was there, watching, watching the men, and they all had red hair, flaming red hair, and yellow eyes, and they were all workers, it seemed, tan and built and low, and there were no women. No women at all.

They were Gerudos. Male Gerudos, somehow. He felt sick. Sick, sick.

And then, he saw him.

The Hero of Time, possibly very drunk, was there, that had to be him, in full Gerudo garb, that is, flowing white paints, some sort of sash over his body, and that was it, that was it all. His torso wasn't as tan as the other Gerudo men, but, as the Hero of Time, he wasn't pale and robust as the members of the nobility were--the boy didn't seem to be of any class, he stood out on his own, not a Kokiri, not truly a Hylian either...

But as the Hero of Time moved his hips to the music, drunk out of his sinful little mind, the Archbishop felt something move within him, something horrible and snakelike and wonderful--_sin_! He fell backwards, tipping over the stool and exposing him to plain view, but nobody seemed to notice.

He couldn't breath, and with the most difficulty he'd ever had, he was forced to rip away his eyes from that body, that boy, that sinful boy, they were Gerudo witches, all of them, Gerudesses, and he would deal with them in his own time, but for now he had to leave, leave the spell they were casting on him to make him like them, evil, sinful, disgusting...


	3. Dinsday Morning

**Chapter Three**

**Dinsday Morning**

_19 Farore's Moon_

Zelda woke, drenched in sweat, and she was staring at her window for a good five minutes before she realized her mouth was open. She closed it and swallowed. Then she looked down and realized that she had fallen asleep at her desk, pages and pages of notes, writing, scribblings. There was a dream, but it was fading quick...

And then she saw her papers and realized--Link and Kasuto.

And the Archdeacon.

She had to tell someone! Another race of Gerudos--

Then she stopped. No she didn't. She really didn't. And she shouldn't, moreover. She frowned as she thought, it was bizarre. A bizarre dream, yet of course her dreams always happened, especially when she started off writing them. She had never outwardly been attracted to Link, but she had always assumed he'd had a crush on her. Which was nice, knowing somebody liked you. Secretly, she had been willing to fall back on him as a suitor. Still could. Right?

Then, suddenly, she knew who she could tell. She threw open her door and ran down the Royal Wing in her nightie and knocked on the second guest room door. "Nabooru! Nabooru!" She was literally jumping up and down. Kasuto hadn't said it, but she'd seen it, in it, in their society, why hadn't Nabooru--

"Hello?" a very disgruntled looking redhead opened the door.

"Parthenogenesis!"

Nabooru blinked. "Are you looking for Nabooru?" she said.

Zelda stopped jumping. "Valja?"

Valja smirked. "Yes. Come in." Zelda walked in. "Baby, Zelda says, 'parthenogenesis'."

"Parthewhatosis?"

"Parthenogenesis. It's a sort of form of asexual reproduction in another world, it happens in all-female species of animals, and what happens is that they don't _need_ men to reproduce, they reproduce with artificial sexual stimulation by another female in their race, and the result is a clone of the mother!"

Nabooru blinked. "Clone?"

"An exact duplicate?"

"And how do you know this?"

"I had another prophecy," Zelda said, breathless.

"You've told me about her prophecies," said Valja to Nabooru.

Nabooru nodded. "I believe you, babe--Zelda, I mean. I want to know more."

"You can't tell anyone, though. I mean, not about this stuff. Okay, Link and Kasuto are in love--"

"In love?" said Nabooru.

Zelda nodded. "You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

Nabooru shrugged. "What would it matter if I did?"

"Nothing, but--"

"Listen, babe, it's gross, okay? But it's not my business."

Zelda stared, wide-eyed, at the Sage of Spirit. "Well, that's hypocritical."

"Zelda, baby, two women together is not the same as two men together."

"Why not?"

"Because two men are twice as foul, twice as lying, twice as stupid, as one man," said Nabooru matter-of-factly.

Zelda couldn't believe it. She turned to Valja. "Do you have anything to say about this, Valja?"

"Don't bring her into this," said Nabooru, yawning. "Look, Zelda, you know I hate men, that's one of the reasons we're trying to figure out a new way, just how did you figure this out?"

"OK. Kasuto is actually part of this nomadic male Gerudo tribe, who--well, they're like you, but men."

Nabooru and Valja blinked simultaneously. And then they both said, "What?"

"They're male Gerudo!"

"We have to kill them," said Nabooru, shrugging her shoulders.

"NO!" said Zelda.

Valja burst out laughing. "She's just kidding." Zelda noticed for the first time that Valja's voice was remarkably high.

"Fine. Okay, so Kasuto took Link out to an evening dance of theirs, and they danced, and the Archdeacon Priest was watching and getting sexually confused--"

"All right, as much as I love gossip, I think you have to stop," said Valja.

"Valja's a teenage girl," said Nabooru, tickling her.

"I'll kill you," said Valja. "Tell us about the parthenogenesis."

"If you don't like hearing the beginning of the story, you won't like this part," said Zelda.

"I can deal with it," said Nabooru.

"They discovered the parthenogenesis but were able to sort of manipulate it so they could reproduce."

"Don't tell me they get pregnant," Valja said, a sick look forming on her face.

"No, they don't have vaginas, silly. And they have a very strong sense of their sex, so they don't do anything like change one of the partners to a female role so as to actually give birth to a baby. After the intercourse, they say a prayer on a flower and sprinkle the combined sperm on top of it--"

Nabooru held up her hands. "That's officially enough. All we needed to know was the parthenogenesis part."

Zelda grinned. "Sorry."

"And how did you say we're supposed to accomplish this?"

"You're a Sage. And don't you guys have magic powers anyway?"

Nabooru narrowed her eyes. "You guys only think that cause of those stupid witches Twinrova."

Zelda shrugged. "Sorry." She considered. "Hey, you guys aren't going to Dinday services, are you?"

"Tired," said Nabooru, flopping back into bed.

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm aware that you don't _care_, but it would be the nice thing to do."

Nabooru sat back up. "Zelda, dear, do you really think that Archdeacon Priest of yours would even let us inside the Temple of Time?"

"He can't overrule my orders."

Nabooru waved a hand dismissively. "It's fine. Go. See you later."

**

* * *

**

Darunia's eyes opened, slowly, and the first thing he saw next to him was a white rose, placed carefully beside his bedside. A slow, dull, throbbing was in his head, and he sat up slowly, moaning.

He was smart, he knew it wasn't a nightmare.

But then again, nightmares often seemed so real.

He was home, though. How could he have gotten home?

He frowned and tenderly put a hand out in the space next to him. When he didn't feel Fila's warm skin, he turned. The covers were completely empty. His heartbeat quickened and he looked around the whole bed to check.

The whole bed.

His heart started to swim and he stumbled. Even sitting up in bed, he managed to stumble. He didn't vomit, and it would have been better if he had. The world swam and he collapsed back down into his sheets, almost black with blood...

* * *

Link woke up with a start and a gasp. Dark. Dark. Dark. Where was he? He started to breath, quickly. He had no memory of anything. Where was he? He sat up, slowly, and shivered. He felt his body. His shirt was off. He felt down. He was wearing some sort of clothing around his bottom, but it wasn't his.

_Breathe. Breathe_.

Then, like a rush of water, it came back to him. He stopped breathing as he remembered walking with Kasuto, and fucking with Kasuto, and following Kasuto back to the den of male Gerudos, dancing, dancing, and ale, lots of ale...

He put his head in his hands. Oh Din, oh Din, oh Din... he had to leave. He had to get out of here. He didn't even know if Kasuto was still next to him, but he knew he had to leave. He stood up, shakily, holding his hands out. He closed his eyes and recited the spell for Din's Fire, hoping it wouldn't wake Kasuto. A tiny flame appeared in front of him, illuminating the room--it wasn't the Gerudo hall, it was a small bedroom, and Kasuto lay sleeping below and beside him in the bed, covered in what looked like dark red sheets.

He didn't even look for his clothes. He followed the light out of the cave and down Death Mountain.

* * *

The Archdeacon Priest took a deep breath, swallowed, and wiped his forehead. He continued speaking, speaking, and once more he didn't know what he was saying, only that the Gods were in him, touching him, inside him, and he was doing their will, saying their will, passing the tongues of Din and Farore and Nayru onto the Hylians.

What was left of the true Hylians, anyway. The front row, of course, was reserved for the Royal Family (now consisting of the princess and the King). The pews were scattered, mostly families, mostly old couples, all of them very obviously trying to keep from falling asleep. The Archdeacon suddenly realized that he could not be touched by the Gods today, and he shut himself up very quickly.

The Royal Goron Family sat next to the King and the Princess today. The Zoras were obviously absent, as were the Gerudos, and Impa and the new Sheikah were not there for the obvious ban on Sheikahs entering the Temple of Time.

The boy. Had he not sent the order to the guards... there would have been Link sitting, acting perfectly sane, perfectly perfect, a liar, that's what he was, he would have smiled at Zelda, and he would have been talking _talking_ quietly, but talking to Zelda with a tired smile on his face, and he was so smug, so smug, he was a liar, the evil, evil sinful, boy...

Him.

Him.

**

* * *

**

"My story's important, too!" said Saria, her hands on her hips. She was still dressed in the Dinday dress Impa had given to her.

Impa bit down on her jaw. "Saria, _please_, it's complicated enough." It was of consequence that Impa referred to the girl by her first name.

"Don't you even care, Impa?"

"I do care, I know, but that's just it, I know, it makes it too complicated!"

"I'm a Sage! Doesn't that count?"

"It counts, of course it counts, but for Din's sake, Saria, I--" Impa put her head in her hands. "Please leave me alone for awhile, please."

Saria realized she was jumping up and down and stopped. She looked at Impa for a second and nodded. "Of course," she said stately, and walked out of the room. Saria.

Darunia.

Ruto.

Impa.

Nabooru.

And... Rauru. Since the Sage of Light had died, the rest of the Sages had felt it, felt their web snap, collapse. They were once connected, their minds, their telepathy, even Zelda had been in it. But no, not since Rauru had died.

And now... Saria began to feel sick. Before she knew it, she'd vomited yellow bile on the freshly furnished carpets of Hyrule Castle.

Then she felt a warmth, a liquid, dripping...

_Deku Tree!_

* * *

Hell. Hell Hell Hell.

**

* * *

**

Kasuto woke, and he was not overwhelmed with an immense sense of self-fulfillment or any sort of happiness related to Link, the reason being that he knew Link was gone the second his eyes opened. He moaned and put a hand over his eyes. Had he really thought that this, this Hylian, would be the one? Link was ridiculously immature, probably didn't even like men. He moved his hand to his forehead and stared up into the blackness of his room.

Was was he back here, anyway?

Why had he left?

Gerudo.

Yet Sheikah.

He could live in this--no, with these people, these people he'd grown up with, this family, these boys, these men, all of whom--most of whom--he could bone or love in a second.

But, there was his white hair. His red eyes. His distinct un-Gerudoness. And of course the fact that he was Spawn of Woman.

Or he could live in Kakariko Village and Hyrule Castle. Performing his Sheikan duties in the deep catacombs under Hyrule, where Sheikan symbol followed Sheikan symbol, where he felt surprisingly connected, even though his own mother was a prude who hated him--

And he could, most likely, never find love up in Hyrule.

Then again, there certainly was more variety than the eternally red-haired and golden-skinned Gerudo boys.

"You're back," a voice said quietly. Kasuto looked forwards, supporting himself with his elbows. He knew that voice. It was Louis.

"Who's there?" Kasuto called out.

"You know who it is," Louis said, and Din streamed in suddenly as he threw back the window shades. Kasuto grimaced, then covered himself quickly when he looked down and realized that his dick was showing.

Kasuto smiled weakly at Louis, who--not surprisingly--looked sad; but, also, nervous.

"Hi, Louis."

"Where did you go?" said Louis, hesitating before sitting down on Kasuto's bed. Kasuto nervously got to a sitting position and folded his arms across his chest.

"Hyrule Castle."

Louis didn't say anything for a minute. Then, "Why?"

Kasuto breathed. "I know I don't belong here, you know it, and most of all, everybody else knows it."

Louis again didn't respond immediately. "Do you think you belong out there?"

He'd been hoping, stupidly, that Louis wouldn't be able to figure it out, but Louis had always been able to figure it out.

"I found my mother," said Kasuto. Louis turned at this.

"Your mother?"

Kasuto nodded.

"What's she like?"

"Quiet. Stoic. I'm pretty sure she hates me."

Louis nodded, as if trying to understand. "So you go out to Hyrule to... be normal. But you're not normal. You and your mother are the last of the Sheikah, and you're not even completely Sheikah. You'll never be normal. I'll never be normal. Nobody's normal. Everyone's as weird and different as you are. That's normal. You're just as normal as anyone else. And out there, your mother hates--doesn't like you. Nobody loves you there. Everyone loves you here."

"People love me there," Kasuto said, and almost immediately he wished he hadn't said it. He wasn't even sure if he loved Link.

"That Hylian guy you brought over? He'll hate you, don't you realize that? Kasuto, they--hate--us. And they're so ingrained in their weird reproduction system that even if one of them is like us, he'll deny it." Louis stopped there, and his face burned, red. Kasuto was amazed.

"I have to go back," said Kasuto. "I have a job, a mother, a... friends. I'm sorry. I need this."

Louis didn't say anything, and Kasuto knew that his betrothed was crying, that his mouth was screwed up and he was trying not to. Kasuto reached out and squeezed Louis's hand.

"I love you, you know that," said Kasuto.

Louis pulled his hand away, got up, and left.

* * *

What else was there to think?

The Archdeacon was on his knees in front of the fire, praying fervently.

Din, Din, Din. No, not Din, Din was not the goddess to pray to. Farore?

He actually hit himself on the head.

Why was he _thinking_ like a damned boy of twenty years? A gasp came out of the Archdeacon's mouth. This was ridiculous.

_ He couldn't get that picture out of his head._

_ Twirling, twirling, scarves._

_ heat_

_ stench of sweat_

_ men_

_ men_

_ link_

_ the hero of time_

_ the stomach, lean with adventure, then the chest, oh the chest and the arms, covered in sashes, that grin, that grin of desire on link's face_

_ and the sweat, the heat, the fire, the fire,_

The Archdeacon felt hot tears running down his face. The Gerudos, those damned Gerudos. They'd done witchcraft on him, these MALE Gerudos, these evil, sinful, MALE Gerudos, had put this fire in him. And perhaps in Link, too, he realized, thinking about it. But who--

He let out another gasp. Kasuto, of course, Kasuto. That... _interloper_... he wasn't a Sheikah at all, he'd lied, lied to the Royal Family, and he was a witch, an evil witch from an evil tribe, and he would be stopped, at all costs, and Link had to confess, repent, but maybe he wouldn't relent either, and it looked like he'd barely been fighting it, if it looked like Link was on the Gerudos' side, if Link wouldn't love the Archdeacon Priest...

Well, then, he'd burn.

**

* * *

**

"Hey, Impa..." Impa looked up from the missive she was writing. It was Nabooru, in the doorway, looking somewhat nervous for a change, and it was because of this that Impa paid the slightest bit of attention to her.

"Hello, Nabooru," said Impa, sealing up the missive and putting it aside. She thinned her lips. "May I help you, child?"

Nabooru rolled her eyes. "Impa, cut it out, I'm ten years younger than you are."

Impa nodded. "This is true. Please, sit down."

Nabooru, still eyeing Impa suspiciously, did. "You've always been weird like this."

Impa didn't say anything.

"What I _mean _is, you've never let anyone in. Even when people _have _been in. Even when all of us, the seven of us, knew each other, really KNEW each other, we had to know each other for our magic to work... you were always shadowed."

Impa said nothing.

"What's your _deal_?" said Nabooru.

Impa breathed. "I have no deal," she said, careful to look Nabooru straight in the eye. "I'm the Sage of Shadows. Expect it from me."

Nabooru narrowed her eyes. "Okay. I have an idea. Just for fun... or something. Can I have some parchment?"

Impa gave it to her.

Nabooru started drawing.

"I'm the Sage of Spirit, from the Valley. You're the Sage of Shadows, from... the Graveyard, I guess. Ruto's the Sage of Water, from the Lake. Darunia's the Sage of Fire, from the Volcano. Saria's the Sage of the Forest, from the Forest." Nabooru laughed. "And Rauru..." She stopped and bit her lip.

"Oh, stop biting your lip all the time," Impa said suddenly.

Nabooru ignored this and continued writing. "Rauru was from the Temple of Time. He was the Sage of Light. So let's look at this. Fire and Water are obviously opposites. That would be Darunia and Ruto. Shadow and Light are opposites. That's you and Rauru. And... I guess Desert and Forest are opposites. That's me and Saria. Impa, your opposite is missing."

"What in Hyrule does that mean?"

"You miss Rauru."

"Did you get stupider since you married that woman? You're acting like a lass of fifteen."

"Nobody's acting like themselves," said Zelda. Impa jumped.

_You're acting ridiculous._

Zelda stood in the doorway. "I... forget it." She left.

**

* * *

**

What on Earth was wrong with her, this Princess of Hyrule? Boring. That's what her life was, boring. Everything was the same. All she did was question herself. Typical. Just typical. And who cared about her problems, anyway, really? She knew this for a fact that when she was talking all the other person was concentrating on was what THEY would say when they would talk. Zelda knew this, because she knew that's how she felt when someone else was talking. What else? There was something else.

This idea, this glamorous idea of solving overpopulation in Hyrule, and of solving UNDER population in the Gerudo community... who CARED? Who cares about those cities, named after the Six Sages? Darunia, Rauru, Saria, Impa, Nabooru, Ruto.

The Sages... whether or not there had been divine intervention, they'd still saved Hyrule. They knew each other. And they knew Zelda. And Link.

Link.

Did she love him?

He was so confused.

She was so confused.

* * *

Ruto's father was sleeping. So was Mykiss. It was 11:35, so that didn't say much.

Suddenly she shot up in bed, and immediately winced in pain. Her head throbbed. She'd missed Dinday services. She'd planned to go, at least secretly, because she knew it was the very crux of why her father was upset, but she'd planned to do it to keep Zelda company, and to be a good guest.

She stood up, steadied herself, and walked out of the room and down the East Wing. Across the Grand Staircase, into the Royal Wing. Up the West Tower. Zelda's room. She knocked on the door.

"Come in," said Zelda's voice. Ruto opened the door. Zelda had apparently stood up, because she was brushing her dress off, and Saria was sitting on the blue and gold canopy bed, looking down at the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Ruto, looking from Saria to Zelda. "Did I interrupt something?"

Zelda smiled. "No, we're done. In fact, would you like to come with us? Me and Saria are going shopping."

Ruto looked at her for a minute. "Shopping?"

"For my _strophion_," Saria said suddenly. She looked up at Ruto and gritted her teeth.

Ruto almost laughed, but she kept to herself. Saria had, after all, been a denizen of the Kokiri Forest for--Ruto froze. She looked at Zelda, who looked back at her sternly.

Did it have something to do with being a Sage? All Saria had ever known was the forest, her fairy, Bagu--Ruto's eyes focused on Saria yet again. The familiar blue ball of light which normally would be flickering excitedly around Saria's head was very, very, absent. She had the good sense not to mention it. But she did look at Saria, the Sage of the Forest and her friend, and she felt a surge of sorrow go through her, for this broken girl sitting on the bed. Saria was a strong, _strong_, person, and here she was, completely broken, dealt a blow from Fate not anyone could have anticipated.

"I have to go," said Ruto, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "Thank you for inviting me, though; feel better, Saria, and don't feel bad. I--I mean _I _didn't go_--_well, I guess I did, but differently--you'll be fine. Zelda, I just came to tell you, I overslept, I'm sorry, I wanted to go to services this morning, to keep you company, I--"

Zelda laughed. "It's all right, Ruto. Honestly, it wasn't like the Archdeacon expected you there."

Ruto, the half-human, half-fish, Zora, smiled weakly and walked out of the room. She walked down the tower steps and walked down the Royal Wing to the Room of Reckoning, hoping to talk some sense into her father. But the door was closed, and it was clear that there was a heated discussion going on...

**

* * *

**

"We want peace," Nabooru was pleading. "Why are we fighting? You signed a treaty of respect with the Zoras, what is wrong with us?"

"You're degenerates, that's what you are," the Archdeacon said, wheezing.

"Why isn't Zelda here?" said Valja. "Where is she?"

"The Princess is helping Saria with some things," said the King. "And, Archdeacon, please refrain from name-calling. Din knows you're old enough not to do that."

Nabooru felt an urge to smirk, but fought it back. "We're not asking for you to love us. We're not asking for you to start making women marry each other in Hyrule Town--" The Archdeacon started coughing horribly. Nabooru ignored him. "We don't even go _in _Hyrule Town; we don't need anything there. But it's not a good thing to be living so close to an enemy. You know that. We could attack you just as easily as you could attack us." She looked over at the Archdeacon, who seemed livid, but was saying nothing.

"We're not hurting anyone," said Valja. "For Din's sake, be reasonable."

"And Ganondorf?" said the King, and the room became silent. Even the Archdeacon's face relaxed and sank to the ground.

"We're not Ganondorf," said Valja. "Or Twinrova, or Koume, or Kotake. We are the Gerudo, we are Nabooru and Valja and--"

"With all due respect, your Majesty, they are thieves," said the Archdeacon in his wheezing voice. "There is... zero sense in negotiating a peace treaty with a society of thieves. There is zero sense in a society of thieves."

"You are correct," said Nabooru. "It would make zero sense--if indeed we were thieves."

The King raised his eyebrows.

"It's true--I was once a thief, in my youth," said Nabooru. "But being a Sage changed me. Those days are far behind me. And as far the story of the Gerudo Thieves goes, it is a lie, and a myth. We have enough resources to be completely self-sufficient, and we are. And what point is there in stealing Rupees when we are as self-sufficient as we are? We well our own water, we have our own cows for dairy and meat, the valley soil is fertile enough to grow fruits and vegetables, and we do. I think you'll find there is sense in negotiating a peace treaty with us."

The King said nothing. "And what of your degeneracy?"

Nabooru's eye twitched. "We fall in love quite the same your people fall in love, my King. Except with each other. We keep to our affairs, and you keep with yours. Nothing more."

The King said nothing for a minute. And then: "My Queen, I am thoroughly... convinced." The Archdeacon said nothing. "And as soon as Zelda makes herself available, we will be more than glad to write up a treaty of peace between Hylia and Gerudo."

**

* * *

**

I won't say I'm in love.

The phrase entered Link's mind suddenly, and he lurched forward, almost falling off Epona, who he had galloping quickly back to the castle. He caught himself, though, and Epona apparently hadn't noticed, because she was still galloping pell-mell towards the drawbridge of Castle Town.

He slowed Epona down and brought her to an eventual stop by a stream, to which she immediately trotted and began to drink. Link sat on the ground, his legs crossed, trying not to think about what had happened, but then again, why had he stopped to think? What else was he going to do, anyway? He didn't really like _doing_ anything.

Kasuto.

His chest tightened and a knot formed in his throat as Kasuto came into his mind. What had he done? He was going to Hell, that's it, he was, unless, maybe, he confessed, he apologized, that's right, he could apologize. Serve his time. And be free. Get married. Zelda. She'd always had a crush on him.

Then Kasuto's face came into his mind. Smiling. Not laughing. Gazing into his own eyes, Kasuto's glowing red eyes, seeming to put a spell on Link...

A spell?

That's ridiculous.

Wasn't all love a spell?

Link suddenly snorted--loudly, apparently, because Epona snorted back.

He remembered Kasuto's penis.

Penis. What kind of word was that, anyway? It was so clinical. He was such a prude--

No, see, you WANT to be a prude with boys, not with women.

What other words did he have at his disposal? Dick? Cock? Prick? Wee-wee? Weiner? Thing?

Kasuto's penis. Kasuto had, in turn, seen Link's penis. They'd opened themselves to another. Kasuto had seen him naked. Naked, nude, completely open. He'd opened himself up. To another man.

Thinking about it that way... just the fact that he'd opened himself up to somebody else was already something big indeed, and the fact that it was a man suddenly didn't matter.

But it was a man. Link started breathing harder. He didn't think it was strange before, that when he was masturbating images of the pickle seller would come into his head, or of the merchant at Kakariko, or even of Mikau.

_Mikau_.

He understood, at once, he understood. Mikau had, yes, been a Zora, but he had been very, very, attractive, and he was a man, a boy, a beautiful boy, and the twelve-year old Link had felt his breath catch when he saw the dying Zora stumble to his death in the alternate universe of Termina.

He knew then he couldn't fall in love with Zelda. Or Ruto, or Nabooru. A desperate sadness gripped his heart. A desperate sadness and loneliness. Never ever? Never ever ever? And yet he knew it was true. He was a Hylian, but somehow, part of him was Gerudo. Male Gerudo.

A neigh, not Epona's.

Link looked up.

A fist. Pressure, no pain, wet, blood, red, _then _pain, sharp, stabbing, in his nose, he'd heard a sound, breaking?, maybe, oh Din. Link tried to yell, but his brain wouldn't send the message to his throat, to his mouth. He stayed silent, nothing working, only watching, almost far-off, as the castle guards threw him to his feet, savagely wrapping his hands behind his back with a piece of rope. He finally breathed and took the chance to ask,

"What?"

"Archdeacon Priest's orders; Gerudomy," said one of the guards. He sneered the next word. "_Hero_."

He didn't even feel the pressure at the back of his head when he

went

down...


	4. Dinsday Drivers

**Chapter Four**

**Dinsday Drivers**

Saria had never--quite--felt less wise in her entire life. She knew Zelda meant well, but she could not feel more ashamed of herself. She looked down--she and Zelda were in the Market--at those things, those strange things growing out of her chest, weighing much more than they'd always looked on Hylian and Zoran women, and, most grandly, the Gerudos.

And why?

Saria was, however, grateful for Zelda. Any other princess would have sent a servant down to buy her a strophion.

"It's a belt," said Saria.

They'd bought the strophion and had stopped under a tree in a tucked-away corner of the castle grounds.

"Darn right it's a belt," said Zelda. "You put it under your chest, see?" She demonstrated.

Saria moaned. "Why did this even happen?" she said.

Zelda sighed and sat down. "I don't know. But, you know what, Saria? Every girl has to do this--everyone has to grow up sometime."

"Why? Why did Bagu go? And why, how, is this happening to me?"

Zelda got a funny look in her eye. "Saria... do you know about sex?"

Saria blinked.

Zelda breathed. "Didn't think I'd be the one to explain it to you, but... here we go.

"Let's start with your bleeding. Starting now until... you get middle-aged, your body will start producing an egg, inside your body, for a baby. If it doesn't get fertilized, it leaves your body, with blood and tissue and all that, and another one is made, and the same thing happens a month later.

"Some other stuff. Things called hormones will start making themselves in your body. You'll get hair, under your arms, on your legs, and around your midsection, your vagina. You'll get taller, your voice will sound different, your breasts will grow, and you'll develop certain feelings for boys. This is where the eggs come in. When you grow up and find a man you love, and you marry him, you and he will do something which is called sex. His penis will get very hard and go into your vagina and release a fluid called semen, which carries sperm. Eventually, one of these tiny, tiny, sperm will reach the egg in your vagina and fertilize it. The egg will begin to grow and grow for nine months, and when that happens, you will have a baby, and it will come out of your vagina." Zelda finished.

Saria stared at her. "What?"

Zelda opened her mouth, but she interrupted by the angry noise of rattling axles. She ran down to the nearby cliff and Saria ran after her. When she got there, Zelda was already screaming at a handful of castle guards who were driving a paddy-wagon with Hyrule's Royal Crest on it.

"How dare you!" Zelda was screaming. "The Hero of Time, you can't arrest the Hero of Time, and what's more, you can't _beat him unconscious_! What on earth did he DO?"

Saria peered inside the dark bars of the paddywagon, but she couldn't see anything. Then she looked at the guards, who looked slightly uneasy.

"Your Majesty, it is not for us to say it in the presence of such a Princess," the main guard said. "Nor that of a child."

"Tell me! I order you!"

The head guard looked almost sorrowful. "Gerudomy, your Majesty. We're also ordered to search for the Sheikah Kasuto."

"I demand you set him free!" said Zelda, not missing a beat. "And call off your search for Kasuto, both of these boys are unofficial members of the Royal Family and have done no wrong!"

"Your Highness, I am sorry, but no one is exempt from our laws, and you know Gerudomy is a crime against the Gods and Mankind. And I couldn't release him if I wanted to, because my orders come directly from the Archdeacon Priest. You'll have to take it up with him. Would you excuse us, your Majesty?" He bowed and turned to Saria. "And Mistress Saria." He bowed again, then jumped back on the paddywagon as the driver whipped the horses and they all sped away down the main road towards the dungeons tower.

"Zelda," said Saria, when they were gone, "what's Gerudomy?"

"Forget about it," Zelda muttered, already stalking towards the Temple of Time.

**

* * *

**

Darunia walked silently and deadly, not bothering to tiptoe through the masses of bodies littering the granite of Goron City. Tears were streaming down his face, but his mouth was open, frozen, in a perpetual mask of horror.

What? What? What?

He finally let out a giant, great, roar,_ but no it wasn't great it was mangled and bloody and it wasn't a roar it was a cry_.

Not all of them killed. Not all. And not him. He knew it wasn't him. It was it. What was it?

"Please," Darunia said, but he wasn't saying it. "Help me find myself, help me see who I am."

"You can't do this," Darunia said, barely choking the words out. "You can't make me do this, please."

"Hyrule Castle--"

"Danger, pure danger and death."

**

* * *

**

Zelda would have to change the law. How, how, would she change it? She wasn't the King, she was the Princess, and not everyone was as forward thinking as she was.

What was evil?

Not deviant sexual acts.

How could she do this? Everyone was worried about sex being bad in the first place. It was for procreation, that was it. Menstrual blood was evil. Any sexual acts which were merely for pleasure were evil. They were supposed to fight against these urges from the Goddess of Evil, who had come down to earth in Ganon.

But...

If you liked men, and not women, and if you _were_ a man... you can never have sex you can enjoy.

You're not supposed to enjoy it.

But that's not the point. The point is that sexual acts between men are forbidden and evil.

To Hell. To the Dark Realm with the Archdeacon Priest. Who said their religion was any more right then the Zoras', or the Gerudos'? Just because they had more money, more members?

She'd begin by ousting the Archdeacon Priest. What was the point in hating? Love, love was the pinnacle and point of human existence, and sex was part of it. Sex and art and music and literature. Schools and Education and Books. New towns. Named after the _Sages_! Zelda got so excited, she forgot why she was even walking to the Temple of Time.

And then, of course,with a fresh rush of anger, she remembered that Link was rotting in prison.

**

* * *

**

Link woke--of course he woke--and it was cold, and his head hurt, and he was lying on rock, and he was in a cell, dimly light by flickering torchlight.

"And I'm in prison."

He didn't even try and talk to the guard. He didn't want to talk about it, discuss it, he just wanted

KASUTO kasuto kasuto

he started to cry again.

Cry.

Stop.

You. Are the Hero of Time. Praying to Farore that they hadn't stripped him of his Ocarina, he checked around for his pack.

Obviously it was gone. So were his weapons.

He had to get out. That was obvious and a slow grin spread over his face. This was familiar. And, fun, of course.

Adventure! Escape!

OK. Think. He had no items.

He knew three magic spells.

First off, Nayru's Love.

Check. A faint green glimmer materialized around him.

Farore's Wind, and he was outside the cell.

"Hey!" the guard unsheathed his sword.

"I know Din's Fire," Link said quickly, "and I'll burn you if I have to."

The guard paused.

"And I'll burn you if you yell," Link said, narrowing his eyes. "Where are my items?"

The guard pointed a shaky finger down the hall. Link walked steadily backwards, keeping his eye on the guard, and then he turned around and ran up the stairs.

Threaten with Din's Fire, easy, easy. And then--Din bless--he was reunited with his sword, not the Master Sword, the Vendrake Sword, and his Mirror Shield, and the Fairy Bow and his quiver, and his Golden Gauntlets and--

His Ocarina. The Ocarina of Time.

Lost Woods.

Death Mountain?

Lake Hylia?

Graveyard? Link stopped. The Graveyard. Kasuto. He would be there. Or was he still at Death Mountain? Death Mountain first. Dreading taking off his Kokiri tunic and switching to his Goron tunic in the burning coals of the crater, he decided it was better to change now. He did, quickly, and then hurriedly played the familiar Bolero of Fire.

And he was whisked away. He heard the bubbling of molten lava before the crater even came into view--before his body and eyes materialized, came into being; Sheik's--Zelda's--songs broke Link up into a million tiny pieces which would be carried away by the wind to the designated area. So suddenly, Link was there, and, had his Goron tunic not already been on, would have the familiar feeling of his chest collapsing and his skin slowly coming open. He felt this now, actually, but not to the extent he would have felt otherwise.

He lazily waltzed over to the now dysfunctional bridge and hookshot himself to the other side, giggling childishly as he always did from the sheer joy of flying through the air.

**

* * *

**

"Archdeacon!"

The Archdeacon Priest managed to stumble, even though he was on his knees. He craned his neck around, his heart threatening to leap out of his chest. The Princess was already stomping down the main carpet of the Temple, fuming.

"My dear Princess," said the Archdeacon slowly, "you know every arrest the guards make is for the kingdom's own good."

"I-I can't even begin to tell you how wrong this is. Since when do you have dominion over the guards?"

"Zelda, you know I have partial dominion, along with your father, over the legislature in the country of Hyrule. I was merely reporting a crime."

Zelda put her face in her hands. "They're going to be executed, executed for loving each other. You evil man! Don't you have any emotions whatsoever? All you do is sit here and pray and go on about how Hyrule is on the road to ruin! Well, _you're_ the main cause of it all! All you do is spread discord and hate and fear! The second I become Queen, I'm deposing you and replacing you with a man who knows the real concept and point of religion!"

"Firstly, my princess, they are not being executed for loving each other. If such a thing were even possible. They're being executed for sick, unholy acts that anger the Gods. And seondly, Zelda, look at you, yelling at an old man."

"For Din's sake--!" Zelda shrieked, but a guard came running in, breathless.

"Your Highness! Link has escaped!"

The Archdeacon's eyes bugged out. "Find him! Scour the land of Hyrule! I want no stone unturned until he is found!"

"Why do you _care_ so much?" Zelda said, as the guard bowed and ran out of the room.

"It's a deep violation of Hyrulian law!" The Archdeacon said, sputtering.

"Yes but--and since when are the guards going to _you_ when someone escapes? It looks like you're completely responsible for this whole affair!"

"Princess, deal with your own affairs," the Archdeacon said, "and leave me in peace."

"Link," Zelda said, growing quiet and stepping forward, "is the Hero of Time and a close, _close_, friend of mine. And if anything happens to him, I will hold you, Archdeacon, personally responsible."

**

* * *

**

Well, the idea was to keep out of sight, correct?

The idea was that each of the Sages is somewhat involved.

Link stopped and realized that he walking down Death Mountain. Of course he was.

It was another prophecy. Link stopped and tried to figure out what it was saying.

1) Keep out of sight.

2) Each of the Sages is somehow involved.

With what?

Zelda. He had to see Zelda. But--

The first part suddenly made sense. Keep out of sight. He was supposed to be in jail, after all. Goron City probably wasn't safe. Kasuto. Then he would call Saria and ask her if she about anything.

What. A. Plan.

Death Mountain. Utterly devoid of trees of course. Exactly what the Book of Mudora must have meant in the verse: _Din, with her strong, flaming, arms, created the red Earth._ Death Mountain was red, all right, on the top more than the bottom, but it was earth and fire.

Link walked stealthily by the Goron compound, thought about it, and then ran and jumped over the gorge over Dodongo's Cavern, which the Gerudos' camp was closer to. He fell through the air, feet-first, screaming with fright, but made a perfect rolling landing in front of Dodongo's cavern, his feet hitting the ground with a great pressure and immediate rolling of the world, and then he sat, like a boy, grinning and gasping heavily.

Still grinning, he stood up and brushed himself. Then he froze.

Darunia was standing not ten feet away, blocking Link's path down the mountain.

"Farore, you scared me, Darunia," Link said, laughing weakly, because Darunia was still frightening him. He was neither grinning nor frowning, which were pretty much the only two expressions he ever had on his face. "What?" said Link, because Darunia had definitely just said something.

"Kill me," Darunia said again. He was... pleading? The King of the Gorons had never been known to plead to anyone.

Link's breath caught and he swallowed. "Darunia, what's wrong with you?"

"Don't let me go to Hyrule," Darunia said shakily. "Please, Link, kill me, I can't kill anymore."

"Kill? What are you--" Link yelled and rolled under Darunia's legs as Darunia swung a massive Goron fist towards Link's face.

"Who am I?" something crowed, and at first Link didn't know who was saying it, but he quickly realized it was coming from Darunia's mouth.

Freeze.

Ice Arrow. Quick as lightning, Link pulled his bow and an arrow out, muttered the Ice Arrow prayer, and shot a glimmering, icy-blue arrow into Darunia's face. It hit, exploding in a barrage of brilliant blue light, and when the light cleared, there Darunia stood, encased completely in a dazzling mess of an ice crystal. Link burst into tears the second he saw Darunia's silently roaring face, trapped behind the wall of impenetrable ice.

Kasuto.

You're not supposed to be afraid of anything, Link berated himself as he ran to the boulder and threw it aside, careful to close it afterwards.

A man. And he screamed.

"Who are you?" the man said immediately.

Link's heart was hammering. "It's, uh, Link. I'm a friend of Kasuto's."

The man looked at him hard (he was holding a torch in his left hand) and Link realized the man had the same wispy accent that Kasuto had. "Were you at the festivities last night with him?" the man said.

He had blazing red hair and red eyes, but unlike all the other Gerudo men Link had seen thus far, he was much older, perhaps forty or fifty.

Link swallowed. "Yes."

"PRALFO!" the man screamed suddenly, and Link clapped his hands over his ears. Another man arrived, his face illuminated by another torch, his eyes and nose unusually large. "Accompany this young man to the courtyard, please, and help him find Andrew and Yasha."

Pralfo nodded. "Yes, sir." He turned to Link and did a double-take. "Sir, he's... Hylian."

"Yes, he says he's a friend of Kasuto's, probably the Hylian all the young ones were talking about last night."

"Oh." Pralfo's eyes widened. "Oh, I see."

"Take him, now."

Pralfo looked at Link with his wide eyes and nodded. "Come along, then."

Pralfo was young, but hardly attractive.

Link nodded. Pralfo turned and started to walk and Link ran to follow the now-moving torchlight down the passageway and the first guard's dwindled into the past.

"So... how long have you guys been here?" Link said awkwardly.

"Three weeks," said Pralfo. He turned right and Link after him. Pralfo placed his torch in a stand sticking out of the wall and turned left again, where light was pouring into the passageway. Shielding his eyes, Link stole around the corner and, quite audibly, gasped.

It was the room he'd been dancing in--apparently, he could remember very little of the night before--but it wasn't a room. It was a clearing, there was no ceiling, and natural light lit up the dead rocks of Death Mountain.

Outside. The brown, dead rock of Death Mountain spread out, and on the spread-out rocks, tarps were spread out and fires and red and people, men, but not the men of last night, all men and boys, tiny redhead boys, redhead babies, old redhead men, middle-aged redhead men, fat yet somehow beautiful men, stick boys, boys playing, boys kissing, boys yelling, boys and men and babies and redheads.

Dead meat was cooking. Link inhaled the air. It actually didn't smell dead, it smelled alive, because there were spices and life and vigor, and the Gerudos were alive.

"Sir... sir!" Link jumped. Pralfo was staring at him.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Link followed Pralfo through masses of cooking meat, crying boys, and fussing parents. At last they came to a tent off in the corner, one obese man and one frighteningly thin one, both rocking screaming babies, meat cooking, dirty faces, and boys chasing each other around the tent.

"Yasha and Andrew," Pralfo said. The men looked up. The thin one looked Link carefully up and down and the fat one stuck his lip out. "A friend of Kasuto's." At the sound of Kasuto's name, the thin one seemed to squeeze the already screaming baby closer to him, making it scream louder. Pralfo nodded. "I leave Link in your care." With that, he turned and walked away, and Link desperately watched him go, silently praying to stay with Pralfo than with this bizarre... family.

"My name is Yasha," said the fat man, holding out his free hand, and Link took it, and in that handshake Link lost all misgivings he had about the man, because his hand was warm and comforting, callused, fleshy and strangely mother-like. "This is my husband, Andrew." The thin one shook Link's hand, and his hand was cool but hard, and Yasha spoke even more breathily and whispering than Kasuto.

"We heard Kasuto was here last night," said Andrew. His voice was high, but not womanly. It wasn't manly. It was a voice.

"Yes, he brought me here," said Link. He couldn't think of anything else to say. "You're his parents?"

"Well, adopted parents, technically," said Yasha. He laughed. "Obviously."

Andrew glared at him but smiled at Link. "I'm sure he told you, Kasuto's... part Sheikah."

"That's how I met him. He was working at... yes, working at Hyrule Castle, the only Sheikah there is... are, Impa, and the Princess Zelda. She's Hylian, but she knows their ways, and the Sheikah are supposed to look after the graveyard, and Zelda obviously can't do it, and Impa is the only other Sheikah, so yeah, they let him." Link frowned. "I guess Impa should be teaching him how, but I--" He stopped himself. "I don't know."

"Kasuto has had problems adjusting," said Andrew.

"Adjusting?" said Yasha. "He's had problems 'adjusting' from the day he was born."

Andrew smiled. "I suppose so. Kasuto... he's not pure Gerudo, and that is very strange among our people. The fact that Kasuto was born from a woman, and the fact that he was born from the union of a Gerudo man, Mobiru, who was killed, and a Sheikan woman, is not looked well upon in our group."

"How did he die?" Link said, having realized it was redundant to ask if Kasuto was still here.

Andrew looked down at the ground. "Women are not respected in our society. Not like yours. They're... hated. And the few men who go off and sleep with women are hated just as much. You can imagine what happened."

Link nodded slowly. "But--how did you guys get Kasuto if the woman gave birth later?"

"The woman was not happy. Mobiru was my cousin, so Yasha and I were very close to the whole situation, you see. She was sick at herself for sleeping with a man. She was very religious. She had vowed to live a life of celibacy, considered herself chaste, and she hated herself for what she did. Yasha and I kept her under our roof, in secret, and nine months later she gave birth to her baby. The next day she was gone, but she left her baby."

"I don't know where Kasuto is. I thought he was here," said Link.

"He went away again," Yasha said, looking angry. "Early this morning."

"He's confused. He's always been confused. He's not Gerudo, he's not Sheikah, the other kids teased him for being so different, born of woman, and when he reached adolescence, he stayed out late, boy after boy, and he didn't love any of them."

"He's not our son. We've made it clear to him that we love him and he is like our son, but that he had real parents," said Yasha.

"I think now... that was a bad idea," said Andrew. He looked up to Link. "I think he loves you. I hope he does, I think he does."

**

* * *

**

"This will be difficult," Impa said sharply, wiping her nose. "I knew these ways because I was taught them from infancy, but you, my boy, are neither completely Hylian nor completely Sheikah, and you have been living with those Gerudesses--"

"Gerudos."

"--all your life."

Kasuto shivered. The catacombs were one thing, but the Shadow Temple was quite another. He didn't like dead things, he liked living things.

"Get over it," said Impa. "No, what am I saying? To be successful as a Sheikah, you must not only get over death, but embrace it. You must learn to love rotting flesh, the creatures of the dead, the ReDeads, the Gibdos, the Wallmasters, the Bubbles, the Stalfos. You must listen to the voices of the spirits. Let them fill you and let them be understood. Your ears, your Sheikan ears, are the reason you can do this, and the reason you should do this."

Kasuto nodded slowly.

Dark. Kasuto touched the wall and shivered again. It was damp, cold, grimy. And he heard whispers, sending more chills down his spine.

"The spirits can hear your fear," Impa said sharply. "And so can I. If you are not afraid, they will cool at the sight of the true Sheikah." With that, she turned and jumped effortlessly across the chasm in the middle of the square, dank, hallway. "The true Sheikah is born in shadows, lives in shadows, and dies in shadows. They make the unseen seen and the seen unseen. Which means you can make the unseeming seem like it seems. Which means you, a half-Sheikah who has been raised in the way of the Gerudo, can fool the world into thinking you're a real Sheikah, and if indeed you can fool them then you are indeed a true Sheikah. There is one person who has done this, and it is indeed possible."

"Who?"

"The princess Zelda."

Kasuto stopped grazing the wall and looked at his mother. "Zelda?"

"Yes, Zelda. She and I were forced to go into hiding during the Evil King's reign, and I taught her the ways of the Sheikah. She fooled Ganon, Twinrova, and even Link himself as she roamed the land in shadows as Sheik. Princess Zelda has mastered the ways of the Sheikah, no small feat owing to the fact that she is Hylian, but you are part Gerudo, part heathen. It will not be easy."

Kasuto was slightly offended, but he nodded anyway.

"Jump, Kasuto," said Impa.

Kasuto didn't want to make it seem like he noticed, but he was secretly thrilled that Impa had called him by his name.

"A Sheikah never lets her emotions betray her. All is clouded, all was clouded, and all will be clouded--"

"Jump?" Kasuto suddenly said, realizing Impa's command for the first time. He didn't know how he'd expected to get across the chasm, but it wasn't by jumping. It was barely ten feet, but when Kasuto looked down into the chasm and saw the infinite darkness, he felt much different about it.

"Jump, Kasuto," said Impa. "Fall into the infinite darkness of the Shadow Temple."

Kasuto furrowed his brow. "Wait, but I thought--"

"Don't think!" said Impa.

"But are you telling me to jump in, or across?"

"Just jump! It doesn't matter," said Impa, setting her jaw.

Was Impa trying to kill--

Whispers, spirits, _ghosts_...

**_Don't jump, don't jump_**

**_ jump JUMP ._**

**__**Kasuto jumped across the chasm and stood up to meet Impa's painted, angular, face with his own. She almost looked disappointed.

"You've passed the first trial," said Impa, turning and walked towards a dead end. "A lesson of the Sheikah--never let anyone tell you to completely surrender yourself to anything. Be aware. Know. Know yourself, know your limitations and your abilities, know the shadows, know yourself in and out of the shadows." She disappeared into the wall.

Kasuto hesitated, then ran through the wall, jumping back when he saw he was suddenly in a much larger room, lit by purple torchlight. Impa stood in the middle of the room, her hand resting on a large stone bird.

"Now for the second trial. Listen to the spirits."

**

* * *

**

The Sages.

Zelda stomped out of the Temple of Time and suddenly screamed and fell to the ground.

"Zelda!" Saria ran over to her.

"A lot of things are going to happen," Zelda said immediately, her head towards the ground. "Everything. A lot." She burst into tears.

"What is it? What?" said Saria desperately.

"I don't know," Zelda said, gasping. "Gerudos... Gerudos, male and female.... Death, lots of death..." She shut her eyes. "Link, Kasuto, the Sages." She opened her eyes. "Impa. I have to see Impa."

"I'll come with you," said Saria.

"No, you stay here. It's not a Sage thing, it's an Impa thing," said Zelda. "Go to your room and stay there. You can do it." Zelda kissed Saria's pale forehead, stood up, waved her hands, and vanished.

**

* * *

**

"Impa!"

Impa turned around, and she and Kasuto both said, "Zelda?"

Zelda ran forward and collapsed into Impa's arms. "Oh, Impa, Impa, something horrible is about to happen!"

Impa shushed her and rocked her, loving her, she did love this Princess, this Zelda.

Zelda.

Impa realized how much she'd missed her. "Let's sit down, Princess," she said, guiding her to a blackened rock. Impa looked up at the nonplussed Kasuto. "You too, boy."

He did.

"Tell me," said Impa.

"I'm... the premonition, was just so... exhausting, Impa. So much is going to happen, so much, and I can't stop it, I don't think--"

Impa shushed her again and rocked her. "What was in it?"

"People. I was aware... Link. Kasuto. All the Sages. Something horrible. Death. Fire. Fire. Oh, it hurts, Impa, it's tiring and nauseating and overwhelming to think about!"

"I know, dearie, I know," Impa said. "Take a rest. We'll go back to the castle and Kasuto will continue his training tomorrow."

Zelda shot up from Impa's lap and looked at her desperately. "I CAN'T rest! Link is in trouble and Kasuto--oh, Kasuto, they're looking for you, Link was arrested for Gerudomy with you, and he escaped, but--"

"What?" Impa tightened her hold on Zelda and set her eyes on Kasuto, who began to look very uncomfortable. "Kasuto, what?"

"That's kind of offensive, you know," Kasuto said, swallowing. "Gerudomy."

"Boy, why did you enter this kingdom without knowing you wouldn't be able to... do... what you wanted?" Impa finished lamely.

Kasuto opened his mouth, but Zelda said, "Stop. I'm so tired. Just... please. No words. No arguing. But--Kasuto, they're looking for Link. And you. And they want to execute you."

"Hi," said a voice, and Impa's eyes focused, and Kasuto and Zelda looked, and Link was standing in front of all three of them, looking at Kasuto.

Impa averted her gaze.

_Really, if all of it was disgusting, could two men doing it possibly make it any worse?_

"You escaped," Kasuto finally said, and Impa looked back at them.

"They just hugged," Zelda whispered to Impa, somewhat reprovingly. "Get a hold of yourself."

"But my son--" Impa clapped a hand over her mouth.

Zelda gasped.

Link and Kasuto stopped gazing at each other and looked down at Impa, Link's eyes wide.

"Your son?" said Zelda.

"Your son?" said Link, his eyes bugging out.

"Oh. Hell."

They. Knew.

They knew where she'd been, where her bottom had been, that she'd been weak and dirty... she had to leave. She slammed a Deku Nut to the floor and sped away.

With all the grace of a Sheikah woman.

The only Sheikah woman.

**

* * *

**

"What was that?" Kasuto said, staring where Impa had been sitting barely two seconds ago.

"It's a Sheikah trick," said Zelda. "With a Deku Nut."

"Oh," said Kasuto, and Link swallowed, very aware of Kasuto's hand resting absent-mindedly on Link's chest.

"Impa..." Link said, suddenly remembering Andrew's words. "That makes sense."

"Well, duh," said Zelda and Kasuto.

Link laughed, surprised that he could laugh. "Well--yes, that--but--Kasuto, I met your parents."

Kasuto's smile dropped and pulled away from Link's chest. "Why?"

"I was looking for you at your camp and I was led to your family. They told me how they got you."

"They're my cousins," said Kasuto. "Not my parents."

Link laughed, a little reluctantly. "Yeah, they told me about that."

"All right, can we continue this later?" said Zelda, standing up and brushing off her cloak. "You two are wanted for Gerudomy. The Archdeacon Priest for some reason is behind it all, and the guards are scouring Hyrule for you."

Kasuto rolled his eyes. "We're wanted for Gerudomy? Great, I'm being arrested for being a Gerudo. That makes sense."

"We could stay in one of the temples," said Link.

Zelda frowned. "What about where your people are, Kasuto?"

Kasuto's face clouded. "No," he said firmly.

"Oh," said Zelda. "Well, you could stay here--"

"No," said Kasuto. "I hate this place." Link and Zelda burst out laughing. Kasuto scowled. "What?"

"This is like where you're supposed to live for the rest of your life," said Link.

Kasuto shivered. "I can't take all this death. We've... the Gerudo have always been about life, sun, light, I can't take this place."

"You know, I have no problem with any of these places, you know," said Link. "You probably wouldn't like the Forest Temple... maybe the Fire Temple... no, you need a Goron Tunic... I guess you could get one, but... the Water Temple? Ooo!" Link suddenly bit his lip, however. "The Spirit Temple is in the Desert Colossus."

Kasuto considered it. "That sounds good," he said at last.

Zelda nodded. "You'd like it there. The thing is, well, they probably wouldn't bother you, and it's far enough away that no one would notice you at all, but it is near the Gerudo Valley."

Kasuto hesitated. "That would be... where the Gerudo _women_ live?"

Zelda nodded.

He didn't say anything for a minute. "I can't say I don't hate them."

"Why?" Zelda said, drawing herself up, her eyes fixed on Kasuto. "Do you hate me?"

"I don't hate you. Or... well, yes, I don't hate you. I... I'd say I hate all other women, but I guess that doesn't make much sense. As for the women Gerudo, I--"

"Why?" said Zelda, and Link could see her eyes burning.

"You're useless to us," Kasuto said, and Zelda glowered at him. "Sorry, that's just the way we feel. And a female... version of us is just kind of insulting."

Zelda leaned back. "Nabooru was the same way," she said bitterly.

"As long as I don't have to deal with them, I'm fine," said Kasuto decidedly.

Link grinned. He liked being the streetwise one for once. "C'mere," he said, taking Kasuto around the waist and pulling him close. Kasuto looked at him. Link looked at him, and then remembered himself. He pulled out his Ocarina. "Listen to this." He played the Requiem of Spirit.

Dark, _cold_, wet.

**

* * *

**

Bright, _hot_, dry.

"You're different," said Kasuto. He peered at Link.

Handsome Link.

Who was taller?

Love. What. Are. You. Doing?

Kasuto felt his past rushing up to meet him, his parents, his lovers, his tribe, Louis, and suddenly felt weak.

"What's wrong?" said Link.

All of a sudden, Kasuto felt like crying.

Link. Link needed a past.

Link smiled and brushed a strand of hair behind Kasuto's ear. "Let's go inside," he said, taking Kasuto's hand. They stepped down into the sand; they'd arrived on a pure marble platform, the insignia of the Spirit Temple engraved on it. Together, they walked to and up the stairs of the Spirit Temple.

The desert winds ceased when they walked inside, and the first thing Kasuto thought was _Orange_. It was as orange as the Shadow Temple was a sort of sickly greenish purple. The spirits whispered in here, too, but they were kind, comforting, not malevolent. The Spirit Temple was quiet.

Link breathed. "It's at peace," he said. "The last time I was here, it was _crawling_ with monsters."

Kasuto turned to Link. "Where were you born?" he said abruptly. He looked at Link's face, somewhat sad, somewhat thoughtful, smooth, wonderful.

Link walked up another small set of stairs in the center of the room and sat down on a large red carpet. Kasuto followed, and Link held Kasuto's hand, unsmiling. "Just remember, I found all this out much later," he started. "I grew up in the Kokiri Forest, believing I was one of the Kokiri, a fairy spirit appearing as a child, ageless, except for the fact that I didn't have a fairy. What I found out, in the midst of my... you know, um, adventure, was that I was a Hylian. My mother, fleeing the Civil War, died in Kokiri Forest and I was raised as a Kokiri."

Link's face.

Then it registered.

"You... you were just like me," Kasuto said, his voice cracking. He didn't say anything else, just watched Link. "Tell me everything else. How did you find out?"

Link sighed, then let out a small laugh. "You're about to hear one hell of a story."

Kasuto just watched him, waiting.

Link grinned. "It started... with a dream..."

**

* * *

**

Slowly, seriously, Link had returned to the Lost Woods, rising up from the Terminian depths with Epona. He did. Twelve, then. Hyrule was slowly, slowly, dying, but he knew he'd be there, in five years now, to see it, and now he traveled, with Epona.

Three years he wandered. He shot himself birds to eat with his bow and arrow, left over from his days as an adult. Epona ate grass. Far away from Hyrule. Far away.

"Hey, kid," the barman grunted. Link expected him to. Barmen grunted. Link grunted back.

Navi was still gone.

"I need some milk," said Link. He burned, he felt his armpits smelling, he felt his dick hard, it was always hard, always, he was in desperate, desperate... desperation.

A horny disgusting boy. Yet has voice had changed, tiny things of hair were peeking out of his face. Link could have screamed, he hated himself, he hated himself.

The barman laughed at him. Link said nothing.

Link, Link, Link. He hated himself, hated his name. Little boy, then there was that weird, weird, time jump in the Adult's Body. Then normal again. He'd remembered those strange feelings down there only as dreams. Now they were back, raging.

"Hi," said a boy. Link turned.

A boy. Probably fourteen or fifteen, his age. Nondescript, otherwise.

"I'm Dal," said the boy. Wordlessly, Link shook his hand. "I want to show you something." Link followed Dal out of the bar, out to the nearby stable. They found an empty stall. Dal closed the door behind him. He turned around, looked at Link, and pulled down his pants.

Link stared.

There it was. Looking like some sort of candle or branch or... something. Dal put his hands on Link's face and kissed him, very slowly. Link slowly, slowly, got to his knees, the candle looming...

**

* * *

**

He didn't tell Kasuto this.

Nothing like that ever happened again.

* * *

"What's your sword called again?" Kasuto said. Link reached up behind him and unsheathed the sword cleanly. It glinted in the torchlight.

They walked.

"Vendrake," said Link, brushing his hand over the hilt.

The hilt was fat, blue, glittering. Link gripped it expertly. Kasuto tried not to laugh and Link caught his eye and grinned.

"It's pretty," said Kasuto helplessly.

"You're pretty," said Link.

"Handsome," Kasuto corrected. "How did you get the sword?"

Link remembered.

It was recently. He'd started on the trek back to Hyrule. He'd known other swords, the Kokiri, the Master, Biggoron's, Razor, Gilded, Great Fairy...

None like the Vendrake.

Seventeen. He was on his way back to Hyrule, Ganon would be destroyed by him, soon. He found a place...

This place...

"It wasn't Hyrule, it wasn't Termina. Zelda was there--she wasn't Zelda. Farore was there. Farore.

"I was on my way back to Hyrule, I..."

Okay.

Something had happened. He'd fought, beside Zelda and Farore. This wizard. The wizard was sufficiently destroyed. Zelda ate Farore. She ate her.

Link shut his eyes and tried to remember. "Let me start over again. I'd wandered into somewhere, some sort of... something...

"I was dreaming... or something. There were three... three? Maybe four. Anyway, the first one. They weren't dreams. They were... I was walking, and there was a point where I stopped walking and started dreaming. In the first dream, I was in a dark ballroom. I was someone else, not me. I had a sword, though. I was fighting a dark wizard, not Ganondorf, just a dark wizard. And Zelda and Farore were helping me. Zelda was... colder, meaner, in the dream, and Farore was this really nice but fat girl, about our age, she had green hair. Farore was constantly laughing and Zelda always had this sour-looking frown on her face, and during the battle it was actually Zelda and Farore who did the fighting. Farore laughed and sent bolts of green magic and Zelda whispered wisps of ice at the wizard. I was sort of overseeing it and waving my sword around. I don't remember killing the wizard, but there was a banquet at the castle in honor of our triumph over him. Zelda served a platter of cold cuts, but Farore was nowhere to be found. When I asked her where she was, Zelda replied smugly that we were eating her.

"I dreamed again, and this time I was myself, but I was ten again, the same age I was when Navi came to me, and I was in the Kokiri Forest, but there was no one around, it was like... an actual forest, a mix of the Lost Woods and the Kokiri Forest, and I was on this circuitous winding path, and I felt like I was in some sort of park, or inside a giant tree, not like the Great Deku Tree, but like I was inside a tree. Then there was a room with some treasure chests, some stumps, and I emerged into the real world via a door of light.

"The new world was Hyrule. It didn't look like Hyrule, physically, but it was Hyrule. The physical makeup of it was actually Termina. The whole place looked unreal. The grass was too green, the sky was too blue, and I wandered again, across the plains until I came to a deserted village. There was this place to pen the horses up, and it was like an otherworldly version of Lon Lon Ranch, where Epona was born.

"Then, the wind whistled and I turned around, and something--crawled into existence before my eyes, crawled out of the empty space in front of me, completely black and limbed. I screamed, or at least I thought I did. The sheer fear, the unreal nightmare of the black thing overcame all my senses, my hearing, my sense of smell, my vision, my everything, and everything was black and horrible and nightmarish.

"In the third dream, I was still in Hyrule, but now it was a mixture of Hyrule and Termina. I was the age I was then, which was seventeen, I'd seen myself in a mirror recently and felt like an outsider in my own body, wronged, the way I'd felt when I'd seen my new body seven years ago when traveling _forward_ in time seven years. I was riding Epona, who seemed as clueless as I was, across the plains, which were still unrealistically green and the sky stabbed my vision overhead.

"I noticed something in the dirt. Epona and I headed in that direction, and it was this sort of hollow underneath the ground, overgrown and dead, ancient, and I remembered my first dream, fighting the wizard in the dark ballroom, and I realized that was the same place. I went inside and encountered the same shadow I'd encountered in my other dream, the nightmare, and for a while, a countless, timeless while, the dream kept happening, I'd go into this ruin and be destroyed by this fear, this monster, this monster of pure fear."

"How did you escape?" said Kasuto. His eyes were fixed on Link's, his mouth slightly agape.

"I decided to attack the shadow, for once," said Link. "And the closer I got to it, the more terrified I felt, but I knew that it shouldn't hurt me, that I had the Triforce of Courage. I shot it with a Light Arrow, and I woke up, and the Vendrake Sword was next to me when I woke up." He was still stroking it absentmindedly. "A gift from the goddess of Courage."

**

* * *

**

"You know about the Triforces," said Link. "Right?"

Kasuto blinked.

"The Triforces are what Din, Farore, and Nayru left behind after creating our world. Din left the Triforce of Power, Farore left the Triforce of Courage, and Nayru left the Triforce of Wisdom."

"But what are they?" said Kasuto skeptically.

"Golden triangles," said Link.

"Where are they now?" said Kasuto.

Link hesitated. "I'm actually not sure. The story goes that they're in the Sacred Realm, and if someone with an evil heart touches the Triforce, the world will be drowned in darkness. If someone with a pure heart touches it, the world will be flooded in light."

"Is that what happened with Ganon?" said Kasuto.

"Well," said Link. "There's another part of the story. For these things to happen, the person's heart has to be completely balanced between three forces: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. If someone with an imbalanced heart touches it, the Triforce will separate and that person will receive the part representing the force he most desires or believes in. The other two will seek out the people who believe in their respective forces the most." Link held up his left hand. On the back, a small, golden triangle glowed. "This part was in that story."

Kasuto looked up at Link. "Courage, right?"

Link smiled and nodded slowly.

"You are so special," said Kasuto, before he realized what he was saying.

"Guess who got the other part," said Link. They were lying down now, on the stairs, looking up at the ceiling.

"I don't know. Ganon got Power," said Kasuto. "I guess that meant he had enough to take over Hyrule."

"Yes," said Link. "Who got Wisdom?"

Kasuto threw up his hands.

"Zelda," said Link.

This surprised Kasuto. He looked at Link. "Zelda?"

"Princess Zelda, yeah," said Link.

Princess Zelda.

Why did this bother him?

Link was staring into space. His back was to Kasuto.

"What's wrong?" said Kasuto.

Link didn't say anything. "I'm scared, Kasuto."

Kasuto didn't know what to do.

Link let out a sob and turned to him. "I know this, I've acceped that I'm like you, that I'm like the Gerudo. But... I'm so scared. It's not my fault! I didn't want to be like this. I didn't want to... meet you. But I did. And now, I'm so scared." His eyes were glittering with tears.

Kasuto was shocked. He'd never thought about it.

"You're all I have in the world," said Link, blinking back tears.

Kasuto looked at him for another minute. "Oh, Link."

**

* * *

**

_ Fool. I despise you._

_ Who was talking, really?_

Ruto woke up in a heavy, cold, sweat, breathing hard. Dream. Already fading away. Just a dream.

What was it even about?

A dread, a wild sense of foreboding, came over her, and she knew that things were going to happen, horrible things, and all of a sudden, completely surprising her, she vomited. At night, in the dark, she was most reminded of her time in the Chamber of the Sages.

She had so much she had to do. She didn't know what any of it was.

She would have to keep. Going.

Keep. Going.

Link didn't seem so important anymore.

**

* * *

**

Nabooru jumped. In her sleep, but it woke her up.

_Reawaken yourself, _she suddenly thought.

She look at the sleeping Valja. Beautiful.

She grabbed her cloak and let herself gingerly out of their room.

**

* * *

**

Saria stood in the hallway, shivering, her green (now a sort of chalky purple) cloak uselessly wrapped around her. She held a candle out in front of her, almost as useless as her cloak.

This felt familiar.

"Saria?" said a voice.

"Nabooru?" Saria took another step, and so did Nabooru, dressed in a cloak, with no candle. Saria could have used her magic, too, obviously, but she didn't. This felt familiar. "Hi," she said helplessly, grasping the cloak tight around her.

"We're all here now," said Impa, stepping out of the shadows. She was uncloaked. Saria saw a troubled-looking Ruto out of the corner of her eye. "Well, except Rauru obviously. And... Darunia."

"This is the Gorons' stateroom," said Saria skittishly. "Should we look inside?" At that moment, as if it was a punctuation, came a piercing Goron roar.

"I'd say 'yes'," said Nabooru, pushing the clump aside and kicking the door open. Impa and Ruto seemed to swarm past Saria, who followed both of them inside the room. The four of them stood at the front of the room, staring. Nabooru lit up an orange ball and exploded it silently, lighting up the room.

Saria stared.

Link--the Goron prince Link--was lying on the floor, trembling, and Fila was lying on top of the bed, also trembling. Saria and Ruto, the respective healers of the Sages, ran to them.

"What happened?" Saria said to Fila. She ran her eyes up and down Fila's body, but she could see no wound. She shook her head and tried to heal the body as a whole, but she found herself being repelled backwards.

Fila's eyes were wide as she struggled to breathe. Saria felt somewhat strange to think this, but she looked strangely beautiful at this moment in time. "Why, Darunia!" she gasped, sounding surprised. "I think... it was Darunia who attacked us!"

"He's not healing," said Ruto desperately, referring to Link.

"Her--she won't, either," said Saria. Then, to Fila: "Darunia, your husband, Darunia?"

"The King, please, he'll kill the King," Fila said quietly, her eyes fluttering.

"We need Zelda," said Nabooru. "And--shit, Darunia. Maybe Link, too."

"The King, the King, you fools!" said Impa. She didn't stay another moment, and literally before Saria's eyelids had gone down and up again, she was gone.

"I can't just leave them," said Saria.

Fila stopped gasping.

"He's gone," said Ruto, her voice cracking, from the other side of the room.

No, no no. Saria felt something rushing back to her, a woman, drenched in blood, beautiful, a son Saria named Link.

But Link was dead.

And so was his mother.

"Oh, Great Deku Tree!" Saria cried out desperately. Nabooru had gone. It was Ruto and Saria now. Fila and Link had gone as well. Saria felt surprisingly strong arms grasp her around the middle.

"Save the King, Saria, let's go. It happens," said Ruto, although she was saying this between huge gulps of tears.

Link.

Link was dead.

**

* * *

**

And, quite suddenly, he felt it leave him, he felt light, free--

The Gorons.

All. Dead.

Then his eyes focused.

A man. Old. Dead, dead, dead.

DEAD the word rang in Darunia's skull until it became meaningless, a knocking, a child's murmurings, or else a horrible whisper, dead, dead, what was it, the Shadow Temple, dead, killing, killing, murder, murder. Oh Din oh Din--

"We're too late," a voice said quietly. Darunia turned his head. He didn't cry. He didn't scream.

"Hello, Nabooru," he said. Impa walked quietly to the King's bedside and put a finger to his neck.

"He's dead," she said bluntly. "Colfax Nohansen Hyrule is dead."

The room was quiet, not deathly quiet, not as quiet as a tomb, but a hard sort of quiet, a strong quiet, you couldn't cut it with a knife, the knife would break.

"Darunia," said Impa. Darunia looked into Impa's eyes--hard and dark and cold, like his. "Why?"

"I had to find myself," Darunia heard himself saying. It was gone, though, and even though it felt like someone else was speaking, he knew it was him. "It did, it told me to." Crazy, he was sounding crazy.

Was he?

"I can't tell you now, I can't," Darunia said helplessly. He stood up, not shaking, but a light breath of wind would have knocked him over. He barely heard Impa when she said, stonily, that he was under arrest for the murder of the King of Hyrule, the Queen of the Gorons, and the Prince of the Gorons.


	5. Mourning

**Chapter Five**

**Mourning**

_20 Farore's Moon_

For some reason or other, Zelda was taken by complete surprise when Impa came to her the next morning and told her there'd been an accident.

"I didn't foresee it!" Zelda said, confused and stretching. "Are you sure?"

"Darling, I was there," said Impa, and Zelda stopped stretching and she looked at Impa and she knew something was very wrong.

"What happened?" she said quietly.

"There was an intruder last night, in the castle. He killed Fila and Link--the Goron Link. And--"

Zelda waited. She had no idea what it could possibly be, and her telepathy didn't seem to be working. A horrible feeling sat in her gut.

"Your father was killed, in his sleep."

Her body seized up, and a force rose up from her throat to her face but she didn't cry, not yet.

Never, never, never, her own father, her only family, gone, killed.

Her father was dead.

It came, and her face melted open and, like vomit, the tears seemed to come up through her throat and poured down her face almost immediately--she descended onto Impa's breast, completely devoid of boundaries, unmitigated, her face screwed up like a monster or a kitten's, bawling, screaming, shrieking, crying, screaming. She took a deep breath and screamed again, horribly, into Impa.

_20-27 Farore's Moon_

The news spread quickly, even before a Royal Announcement had been made. The King of Hyrule, murdered in his sleep.

No one said who the killer was.

The funeral wasn't for a week, but the land of Hyrule was in mourning. A wave of black seemed to descend over the country. The sky, blue and clear as ever, shined silently. The merchants closed down their wares. Men, women, boys, girls, children, donned black. Children looked around but kept quiet, not completely understanding but not completely misunderstanding, either.

A cold wind fell over Hyrule. The Zoras felt it and mourned, despite themselves. The remaining Gorons, for Darunia had not wiped out all of them, felt it. The Gerudo of the Valley felt it, although no one admitted it. The Kokiri felt it and spent the next week around the Great Deku True Sprout.

_27 Farore's Moon_

Zelda frowned and tugged at her dress. She felt like she was always frowning.

And with good reason.

The dress was black. She'd fought Impa and the Archdeacon, who'd wanted her to wear gold for the Commencement ceremony that would follow the burial. (She'd fought the commencement ceremony being directly after the burial, too, but the only thing she'd won was the dress color.)

Queen. Queen Zelda. She hated the sound of it. Princess Zelda. She was the princess, she liked being a princess, she liked the rhythm, the way it fell off her tongue.

Her father was dead and she was to be Queen immediately afterwards. A love-him-and-shove-him-affair, she'd heard Nabooru say once, at Rauru's funeral. Although, of course, there hadn't been a body in Rauru's funeral. Had he been alive in the first place?

With a jolt, she realized--and wondered why no one had realized before that Hyrule was without a Sage of Light.

And a Sage of Fire. Since Goron tradition held that the funerals be held as soon as possible over the death, a missive had been sent post-haste to Goron City. However, the guard had returned, hurriedly, with the news that the entire race had seemingly been destroyed. They'd held the funeral, anyway, the cold wind that had descended over Hyrule growing even colder with foreboding. Was that the work of Darunia as well?

She'd cried herself out, long ago, and kept tugging at her dress, frowning. She was thin, deathly thin, she'd have to eat. She didn't look like a princess, much less a queen; she looked like a peasant. For Impa, a Sheikah, it was fine. But not for Zelda.

"Hi," a voice behind her said quietly. Zelda turned around. Link, in a jet-black tunic.

"You made it," she said, trying to smile. "Where's Kasuto?"

"He's still at the Spirit Temple. I didn't want to put him in any danger," said Link.

Zelda swallowed. "How did you get past the guards?"

Then Link grinned. "I'm the Hero of Time, remember? Also, I've done it before--"

She'd hugged Impa, Impa had been there to cry on, but she needed Link then, desperately. She squeezed him, her last tears coming out slowly, but she was tired of screwing her face up and bawling. Link held her, tenderly but somewhat awkwardly, like he'd always done, in the way, his way, oh no--

Zelda loved him, and at the same time she realized that, she moved her head, and their lips brushed and she moved in, kissing him.

"Mm--" Zelda felt pressure on her shoulders and Link's lips and body move away from hers. She opened her eyes and Link was standing a few feet back, looking at her, looking troubled, touching his mouth.

And she couldn't believe her good fortune when he stepped closer and kissed her again.

**

* * *

**

He pulled away. He couldn't. No matter how much--

"Link," said Zelda. He couldn't look at her. "Link, look at me."

Still wouldn't.

"I love you, Link," she said.

No look. Then, "But I can't love you." Now he looked at her. She looked as though she'd been slapped in the face.

"Why not?" she said, shaking. Was it rage? Link looked away. "You love Kasuto."

"I don't know," he said dumbly. This wasn't happening.

"So what's the problem, Link?" There was such a sadness in her voice that Link looked up.

"I know I can't love you. Not in that way. It wouldn't be fair to you."

"How do you know that? How do you _know_? Yes, you... did Gerudomy. But that doesn't make you a Gerudo, Link, that's ridiculous. You're Hylian."

"I just know."

Zelda had a desperate look in her eye. "We could make it work. We could. You're just... shy. You've always been shy. You... do you think you'll be happy with Kasuto?" Zelda said, breathing hard. "What do you think you'll do? Stay in the Spirit Temple the rest of your lives? Run from country to country? Or stay with the Gerudo men, those... _half-men_, you need women, Link, you need them. You're..." Zelda started to cry. "You're ruining your life. Ruining it. You can at least try to live a normal one."

It was tempting.

"I've been trying to make this seem like it's okay, like both sets of Gerudos are okay, but they're not, it's not moral, that's what it boils down to, men marry women, that's it, that's what happens! You could be normal, marry me, you like me, I know you do, we'll have children, you'll... you'll be a Prince of Hyrule!"

"Zelda--" He did love her, he knew that, he loved her face, her voice, her name--

But he couldn't. He could love Kasuto. And Zelda could never make him happy in that way Kasuto did. Link kept his eyes on the ground. Then he swallowed, trying not to cry, desperately not to cry, and then all of a sudden he stopped. He looked up. "I have these desires. I won't say I only loved Kasuto, because I've loved others. I don't know where the desires come from, but this is how I am." He felt the words fall from his lips, and he knew he was condemning himself. "And I'm sorry I can't love you that way, but this is this." He unsheathed his sword and held it out in front of him, turning it to let the heavily breathing Zelda see it in its entirety. "This is the sword of Vendrake, the sword of Courage. Why should I apologize for my love? Why should I run away from it? I've been running away until I met Kasuto and he made me realize that this is who I am." And as he said it, he knew it was true. True. So true. Why should he apologize for loving somebody? "I'm the Hero, the Bearer of the Triforce of Courage, to bear this, this thing I've been--given. And you, Zelda, you should know better, the Wisdom Bearer."

Zelda stood, breathing slowly, saying nothing, her tearstained eyes on Link.

"I'll see you at the funeral," he said, not knowing what else to say. He turned around, paused, and then added, "But you won't see me."

**

* * *

**

He didn't know what had happened, but that morning he'd woken up feeling tremendously young, tremendously strong, his back was steady as a rock, and worked, hard, he no longer felt each vertebra painfully aligning itself to the next when he had to take up the arduous task of sitting down or standing up.

It was the King's funeral that the Archdeacon had gone to sleep early for. It was hard to say exactly how he felt about the situation. He wasn't the type of man to cry. He'd been irritated--the murders had cut into a disturbed the search for the Gerudo boy and Link.

Now that the King was gone, however...

And he was feeling up to it.

He smiled at himself in his looking glass. He hadn't (he didn't think) gone back to his youth magically overnight, his hair was still white, but his skin was stretched and tight, no wrinkles, no wrinkles at all. And he was taller. He noticed this. He grinned at his reflection, which of course grinned back. Brushing off his robes, he walked out of his room to head to the Kakariko Graveyard.

**

* * *

**

Nabooru sat quietly in her seat, still marveling over the fact that a seat had been allocated for Valja, who gripped her hand tightly in the next seat over. Nabooru made no effort to look behind her; she knew the sheer number of peasants plugging up the passageway into the Graveyard, stretching back into Kakariko Village and Din knew where else, would overwhelm her.

Hyrule had always been small, close, and the Kakariko graveyard was no exception. The peasants were separated from the nobles, royal officials, Sages, and the leaders of the separate Hyrulian kingdoms by a line of Royal Guards.

Nabooru sat with Valja, who sat next to the the Zora family, who sat next to Mido and Saria. Zelda and the Archdeacon Priest sat in the row in front of them--there were two empty chairs, one next to Zelda, and one on the other side of Nabooru. The one next to Nabooru belonged to Link, whose fate not all the Sages were yet aware of. The one next to Zelda belonged to Impa, who had disappeared down into the depths of the Royal Tomb with a number of guards and the great gold coffin containing the King.

The Archdeacon Priest stood up and the crowds hushed. Nabooru's breath caught as well, and she realized the crowd had most likely hushed not necessarily because they were required to be quiet at this point, but because they, too, were most likely perplexed over the physical transformation of the Archdeacon Priest.

The Archdeacon walked solemnly to the dais in front of the Royal Tomb and opened the Book of Mudora leisurely. The entire process took about sixty seconds shorter than it normally would have. He seemed taller, and Nabooru quickly noticed it was because he was no longer slouching. His skin wasn't wrinkled, it was as tight and smooth as a twenty-year-old's. It was as if all he'd he to do to make himself seventy years younger was to correct his posture and unwrinkle his skin.

"The Gods will smile upon the soul of the King of Hyrule as he begins his journey from the Dark World to the Light," the Archdeacon began. He eyes drooped, his mouth frowned, he was acting, play-acting, Nabooru could tell easily, easily now because his face was so smooth and expressive. "We pray to Farore, Goddess of Life, and thank her for the blessing of a great King of Hyrule and for blessing him with a healthy and long life. We pray to Eroraf, the God of Death, to bring the King of Hyrule to his throne in the Sacred Realm and to safely watch over the King's sacred body, resting in the Royal Tomb. We pray for and thank Impa the Sheikah woman, for guiding the King's spirit to the Light World. We pray to Mudora to find a new guide for Hyrule, to guide our humble country through another era." The Archdeacon lightly kissed his own hand and placed in on the Royal Tombstone. "I send the blessings of the Gods to King Colfax Nohansen Hyrule. And I invite the Princess Griselda Nohansen Hyrule, the Second, to speak."

Zelda stood up and walked slowly up to the Royal Tomb, shaking hands, a little grudgingly and narrow-eyed, Nabooru noticed, with the Archdeacon Priest, and the Archdeacon stepped down easily to his seat beside Zelda's.

Zelda looked out to her people.

"I welcome all of you, Hyrule, and I thank you for your presence here today, the funeral of a truly wonderful man." Zelda swallowed. "My father, Colfax Nohansen Hyrule, unified this great country before you, unified the lands of the Zoras, the Gorons, the Kokiri, the Gerudos, the Sheikah, the Hylians, and the Hyrulians."

Zelda paused. Nabooru furrowed her brow. Was this the Commencement speech?

"May the Goddesses bless him for his wisdom in maintaining peace with all of these nations, for we have not always agreed upon... such things as religions, lands, morals. May the Gods bless him for his courage during the Imprisoning War, when he, as well as I and my nursemaid, Impa, were forced to flee Hyrule at the hands of the Devil King, Ganon." Zelda's voice caught and she choked. She paused, swallowed, and continued. "And bless him for the power he has given me, for believing in me, for trusting me to help save Hyrule when no one else could, for believing in me enough not to just sit on the side and be a harmless little princess." Zelda blinked, hard, and Nabooru wanted to hold her at that moment, she'd never seen her like this before. Zelda spoke again. "I must say this now--once again, in the words of the Great Deku Tree, Farore rest his soul: A vile climate is pervading this land. I ask the people of Hyrule to be prepared for what is to come, to not be fooled by disguises, to not believe blindly, to question, to think, to wonder, if you have not been doing so already. Wonder why things are, if evil is truly evil, if good is truly good, to be loyal to those whom you trust, despite what they might seem to be or do. That is what I ask of you, my people, Hyrulians." She said something else, barely audible, but Nabooru could tell, vaguely, from her lips, that she said,

"I love you, Daddy."

Zelda walked down the steps to her seat and the crowd lay frozen, frozen with grief, shock, sorrow, prayer, and then the Archdeacon stood up and took Zelda's place once more.

"As the executioner of the King's will, I now present the Royal Crown of Hyrule to the heir of the throne," he began. "However..."

Nabooru's head snapped up.

"...as dreadful as it sounds, I'm afraid there are extenuating circumstances."

A ripple of confused mutterings ran through the people. Circumstances? She looked at Valja, who looked back at her incredulously. She looked around at the other Sages, who were all sitting up intently in their chairs. "The King's will states that if his daughter, the Princess Griselda Nohansen of Hyrule, is incapacitated to rule, the current leader of the Hyrulian Church is to rule." The Archdeacon paused dramatically. "The princess Zelda, along with the Sages Saria, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru, are guilty of conspiring with wanted criminals, the Hero Link and the Sheikah-Gerudo Kasuto, both guilty of the mortal sin and vice of Gerudomy. They are similarly guilty by associating with a nomadic coven of male Gerudos, whose hideaway is currently being extinguished, as is the equally sinful village of the female Gerudos, under my orders."

Nabooru barely had time to feel both rage and horrible fear rush through her veins before she felt her hand roughly banged together behind her, clapped into irons. She instinctively looked to her right, where Valja was screaming at her own arrester, a look of pure rage on her face.

"Get _away_ from me!" Nabooru heard Zelda scream in front of her. The crowd was no longer quiet, they were screaming, booing, shrieking, some cheering.

"Hyrule, I present to you your new King, Faroro Mudora Castlava!" Nabooru managed to hear. A wild cheer came up from the crowd.

**

* * *

**

Link's brain seemed to flip over, repeatedly, when he saw was happening from behind his crate high above the Graveyard.

The guards had clearly shifted allegiances. It would simply not do to try and rescue all the Sages at once. Then there were the Gerudos. Two places. How did the Archdeacon know about the Gerudo men?

The Archdeacon had to go.

But--he did seem awfully different. Was he truly different, or just younger? Did his newfound energy allow him the power to do all these things he'd always wanted to do?

Kasuto, he realized. He had to tell him what was happening.

**

* * *

**

Link appeared, looking so distressed that Kasuto ran to him and kissed him, leaving his hands on Link's temples. "Link, what happened?"

"I--the Gerudos--your Gerudos, well all of the Gerudos--are in trouble," said Link. Kasuto's heart took off.

"What? Why?"

"The Archdeacon Priest had the Sages and Zelda arrested for conspiring with us, and crowned himself King. Then he said he'd sent guards and troops to destroy the Gerudoen settlements. We have to do something, I'm pretty sure the Gerudo women can defend themselves, they're warriors, but I don't know about your--"

"Stop. Talking. Take me there," Kasuto said, his fingers digging into Link's head.

"Okay, okay, I'm trying to figure out the quickest way to get there--" said Link. "Okay, we're going to have to go by way of Kakariko, which is good because Zelda and the Sages are there, bad because the Archdeacon and his guards are there. Did you get enough Sheikah training?" Link said, looking suddenly very worried.

"I can take care of myself," Kasuto said quickly, nevertheless feeling very warmed by Link's worried face.

"I believe you," said Link, after looking him in the eye. He pulled out his Ocarina, pulled Kasuto close to him, and played a gut-wrenching melody with some sort of tritone in it, and Kasuto blinked and they stood behind a fence overlooking the Kakariko Graveyard.

**

* * *

**

Had she ever known about Kasuto and Link? Ruto was too busy thinking, imagining this, to even fight back against the guards. She felt like a rag doll. The guards shoved her easily through the crowd, in front of Saria, and in back of Valja. She let them, dead and limp. Rag doll. Then,

"LINK!" Saria's shrill voice woke Ruto from her stupor. Then, the familiar grunting, battle cries...

But would Link kill a human?

Ruto's question was quickly answered when she felt something crash into her from behind and she went right down after him. She hit the ground on her chin and tried to yell but her throat was too close to the ground for it to do any good. She could taste blood and her chin was cold.

Magic. She disintegrated the cuffs and jumped to her feet.

"Ruto!" she heard Saria yell.

Screaming, cheering, booing, the crowd, the _stupid_ crowd, Ruto grabbed her head, screamed, and turned into a blue ball of light, rising over the bewildered heads of the peasants. The other Sages, Link, Kasuto, and Zelda included, headed to Death Mountain.

**

* * *

**

She'd already had suspicions about Faroro--obviously--but she'd felt something emanating from him, something familiar but spoiled, angry, an angry spirit, but she decided to let it go until later.

Then, of course, as soon as she'd prepared the King's body completely and laid him in the Death Water, the green, bubbling acid that came up from the roots of the Shadow Temple, she'd been attacked by her very own guards. They'd shoved her out into the Dinlight, which was so bright it seemed to laugh at Impa, making Impa squint and the crowd was spitting and running and booing and screaming and cheering.

She elbowed the guards, who'd been distracted by a leaping flash of black and gray, spun around, tripped them to their feet, then bashed their skulls together, sending them down to the feet of the Royal Composer Brothers' graves.

"Are you okay?" Impa turned around. It was Kasuto.

"I'm always okay," Impa said brusquely. She looked out and saw Link pushing through the crowd, dressed respectfully in a black tunic, knocking the soldiers arresting the Sages down one by one, and one by one the Sages rose up to the sky in their signaturely colored balls of light.

"Where are they going?" said Impa.

"The Archdeacon took the crown for himself," said Kasuto quickly. "He's trying to arrest the Sages and Zelda and ordered attacks on both Gerudo villages. We're all going to the Gerudo camp on Death Mountain."

Impa's eyes moved to the new Archdeacon Priest, who was standing feet away, watching the two of them curiously. She opened her mouth to say something, then shut it, grabbed Kasuto, and purple-lighted herself after the other Sages.


	6. Waiting

**Chapter Six**

**Waiting**

A blue light, an orange light, a green light, and a purple light, headed off by two black figures on a galloping horse.

Ruto, Nabooru, Saria, Impa, Kasuto, Zelda, and Link.

Keep going, Ruto pushed herself. She was growing tired, pointless, purposeless, what was wrong with her, she had to keep going.

Nabooru wasn't thinking. If she was she would have been deadset against helping the male Gerudos. But the fact was, they were going to be exterminated. And she had faith in her own people to take care of themselves.

Saria was beside herself. Still no one had explained to her what Gerudomy was, and she didn't understand the Archdeacon's hatred of them. Someone wasn't telling her something, and she was angry, angry for being patronized, treated like this--

Impa was terrified. Would they recognize her? Kill her? She didn't think they would have time to do anything to her, not if they themselves were being attacked. Stupid, stupid, just save them, save these pacifists from being decimated. They were pacifists, right?

Kasuto felt something akin to hyperventilation, but of course the term was pointless considering he had no physical body at the moment. He was the purple light, he felt light, weightless, nothing, nothing and everything at once, free, moving towards the mountains. And yet he was frantic, almost crying, but of course he had no tear ducts, his parents, his brothers, Louis, no, Louis.

Zelda was furious. At the Archdeacon, at herself, at her people. She knew this would happen, she knew it and it happened, right under her nose, her people didn't support her at all, mindless robots who obeyed speechlessly whoever was in power, the bigoted and fanatical Archdeacon Priest to whom something had obviously happened, he'd never been that power-hungry, never that bloodthirsty.

Link spurred Epona on, faster, faster, they could all be dead now, not this harmless people, not by this coup--was it a coup?--this takeover. Poor Andrew and Yasha and their sons. His hurried mind realized two Sages were missing, Rauru, and now Darunia, and he remembered what Zelda had said at the funeral, most importantly to be to loyal to those whom you trust, no matter what they may seem to do.

Later. Now, save the Gerudos.

* * *

Kasuto had also been growing suspicious when he didn't see one Royal Guard on Death Mountain. He and Impa dropped to the ground in front of the boulder to the Gerudo encampment, the last to materialize. Link, surrounded by Zelda, Impa, a Gerudo woman, a Zoran woman, and a green-haired girl, was trying to move the boulder.

"It won't budge," he said at last, wiping his brow.

"Where are they?" said Kasuto. "Let me try," he said, louder, taking Link's place. Link didn't really have muscles, it was true, and neither did Kasuto, but somehow he trusted himself more than Link.

"It's magically sealed," said Zelda, when Kasuto couldn't move it either. He turned around. She looked significantly more tired than when he'd first seen her. "And breaking and making seals are my specialty, but I can't break this one."

Kasuto didn't sigh in relief. "They must have known the guards were coming down and sealed the boulder. But the only question is, where are the guards?"

Nobody say anything.

"What do we do now?" said the Gerudo woman.

Kasuto spun around. "What do you mean, now?" said Kasuto. "Who said saving my people was off?" He glared at her. What--_business_--did she have... a Gerudo woman Gerudo woman

"Nobody said--" started Link, but Zelda cut him off.

"Link!" Zelda said suddenly. "Try one of your bombs!"

Kasuto stared at Link. "You have bombs?"

Link smiled sheepishly. "I, uh--yes." He took a curious looking black ball out of his sack, a small white fuse coiling out from the top.

"Put it away," Kasuto said immediately.

Link almost looked disappointed. "Why?"

"Even if it does work, I don't want to make an opening for the guards to come in, wherever they are."

Link looked at Zelda. "Can't you use your telepathy or whatever to figure out what's going on?" he said.

"First of all, our telepathy only _pre_dicts," said Zelda testily. "It doesn't _post_dict or _dict_. We can only say what's _going_ to happen, not what's _happening_ or what _happened_. Second of all, we can't just close our eyes and use it, we get prophecies, when we sleep." Zelda huffed. "You should know that, Link."

"Sorry," said Link. No one needed to ask why she was in such a foul mood.

"What about Farore's Wind?" A breathy voice came up from the Sages.

"Give her air!" Impa suddenly said, and the green girl, who Kasuto gathered was Saria, and the Gerudo woman, who Kasuto gathered was Nabooru, moved out of the way to reveal the Zora woman, who Kasuto gathered was Ruto, on her knees in the mountain trail.

"Ruto, are you okay?" said Link, running over to her and putting her hand on her shoulder.

Impa shoved him out of the way. "Boy, for Din's sake, don't you listen?"

Ruto breathed. Everyone was looking at her now. "Yes. I'm just... very tired."

"Are you sure you're up for this now?" said Zelda, sounding concerned.

"Farore's Wind, what's that?" Kasuto said, now a bit sour from the look he saw on Ruto's face when Link put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's a teleportation spell, short-range," said Link. "I could teleport inside and check out what's going on."

Kasuto nodded. "Okay. Let's try it. I'm coming with you."

For some reason, Kasuto locked eyes with the Sages as he walked to Link's side. He barely knew them; he hadn't even met Nabooru, Ruto, and Saria till right now; but he felt some sort of tugging, a connection, a wisp of something he'd forgotten.

"I'm Kasuto," he found himself saying.

"Nabooru," said Nabooru.

"I'm Saria," said Saria.

"Ruto," Ruto said heavily. She closed her eyes.

He could feel Link's warmth flowing from Link's chest to his face. Then he blinked and let out his breath.

Black.

He blinked.

"We're inside," said Link, and Kasuto felt Link's chest rumble slightly at each word.

**

* * *

**

Link felt Kasuto slowly pull away from his chest.

"Hold on to my hand," Link said.

Kasuto's hand stayed in Link's. He tried Din's Fire, but nothing happened. "No magic," said Link, slowly. "There's no magic, Kasuto. We can't get out." He squeezed Kasuto's hand.

"We can find our way to the open air room," said Kasuto.

"It should be fine," said Link. His mind suddenly went blank. _What_ should be fine?

"This way." Kasuto's voice came shakily, and Link blindly rounded a corner. He stopped, carefully, shakily, and told Kasuto to do the same as he thought. What would help?

Bombchu?

Yeah, if he wanted to started utter chaos.

Bomb?

Noo.

Hookshot? Boomerang?

No. No.

Deku Nut?

That was an idea.

"Hold on a second," said Link. With his other hand, he pulled out a Deku nut, hard, large, almost artificial to the touch. He drummed his fingers on it--he liked drumming his fingers on it. It made a hollow sound, like a drum. He threw it to the ground and for a second the pathways inside Death Mountain were completely lit up, a long rock hallway branching out in every direction. Goron passageways.

Link hoped.

Only for a second, though. Before he knew it, dark, black, and Kasuto was nothing more than a hand again.

"Go, go," Link pushed. They went.

Go, go. Stop, step, go, go, step--

And then Link felt the cool breeze of Farore's Moon tickling the beads of sweat resting on his upper lip.

Kasuto's face was apparent.

Link stared at it.

He would have told Kasuto he'd missed it, but he didn't think it was an appropriate time. And only when he noticed that Kasuto's face was dumbfounded did he look out the cave opening.

The courtyard looked a lot bigger when it was empty.

"Kasuto," said Link, as Kasuto wordlessly stepped into the red-rocked twilight.

**

* * *

**

The red rocks of Death Mountain were redder than red, almost bloody.

They left.

Without him.

_They left without me._

He knew this was what had happend. He knew it. He knew his people. Gone. Without him. Yasha-Daddy. Andrew-Daddy. Gone.

Louis. Gone.

Louis. He wanted to apologize.

"Kasuto!"

Kasuto barely heard him. He stood, watching the negative space grow. His brain wasn't working. It wasn't even belaboring over the possibility that everyone had left him anymore.

Catatonia?

Was, there, such, a word

Brain working

Yes. Now

"Kasuto!"

Dead, alive? Didn't matter. Gone, didn't matter, not there, gone, where--

Suddenly he was staring at Link, his face was burning, and a sudden memory of pressure and heat came back to him. Link was staring intently into his eyes. He'd slapped him.

"Kasuto!" Link said sternly, his fingers pressing into Kasuto's temples.

Kasuto breathed. "Hi," he said.

Link didn't say anything. He relaxed his fingers and moved his hands down to Kasuto's shoulders, then his chest, then he hugged him. "Are you okay?" he said after a while.

"I don't think so," said Kasuto weakly.

"Look, Kasuto. Kasuto. Kasuto," Link said tenderly. "Look over there."

Kasuto looked. There were words on the wall.

"Can you read that?" said Link. Kasuto nodded dumbly. "What's it say?"

Kasuto took a slow breath. "I'm still reading it."

_ 19 Moon of Cold-Cool_

Kasuto--

Kasuto, our dear Kasuto, if you are here, if you came back, you'll know we are not here anymore. Please return, someday, at least once, if not for good. Remember we love you and we wait for you in the East.

Our Love.

Yasha Daddy and Andrew Daddy

"They went East," said Kasuto. "Three days ago."

**

* * *

**

Why was this memory, that image trapped in her head? Saria couldn't get the image of Link and Kasuto hugging out of her head. It was different, much different than when she'd seen other men shake hands or clap each other on the back, or the way the Kokiri boys wrestled and screamed at each other. It was tender, loving.

"I've--almost--got it," said Zelda, who was standing in front of the boulder, whose outline had a sharp green glimmer around it, sweating, her hands outstretched.

"They've been in there for about half an hour," said Nabooru, squinting into the sky, where Din was setting.

Almost immediately after Link and Kasuto had disappeared into the cave, Impa had noticed and informed the rest that the guards were leaving the mountain below them. They must have missed them on their way up. Impa was currently standing a good five feet behind Zelda, watching her intently. Ruto was sitting on the ground a few feet off from Saria, her eyes closed softly, breathing slowly.

"Ruto?" said Saria.

Ruto looked up, somewhat groggily, then smiled. "Yes?"

"Do Zoras reproduce like humans do?"

Ruto looked back down at the ground, a slight grin spread across her face. Saria looked at Impa, who made a point to look away. Nabooru burst out laughing.

"It's similar," said Ruto slowly, choosing her words. "It's like a mixture of frogs and humans--"

"What's Gerudomy?" said Saria, her throat dry. Why was her throat dry? She knew it, something told her she did, something she knew before she was born--when was she born?

"She's too young," Zelda snapped.

"You told her about sex, Zelda," said Nabooru.

"Those were facts of life!"

"Tell me!" said Saria. "I'm not a child any more!"

"I'm telling her, Ruto," said Nabooru. She sat down next to Saria, crossing her legs. She nodded. She opened her mouth, closed it, thought, then spoke. "Gerudomy is a term used by non-Gerudos to describe... romantic love between two women or two men."

Zelda snorted.

"Romantic love?" said Saria.

Nabooru nodded. "But it's very complicated. The people who made up and use that word don't think of it as a romantic love. They concentrate on the sexual aspect, and thus the world really thinks of it as deviant sexual acts, those acts that two men and two women would perform on each other."

"What--" Saria couldn't even imagine in a penis in a vagina--let alone a penis--it was too strange. "What else could they do if there's nothing for the penis to go into?"

"Oh, for Din's sake," Impa and Zelda said simoultaneously.

Nabooru smiled. "When two people are in love, they find ways--opening, manipulations--"

"Nabooru!" Impa spun around, glaring daggers. "For Din's sake, explain Gerudomy if you must, but if I hear one more word of you corrupting that child--"

Nabooru was laughing.

"It's not funny," Impa said, narrowing her eyes furiously. "I don't care to hear it, and Saria is _too young_--"

"I'm sorry, that last part was a little too much," said Nabooru.

"Why is it called Gerudomy?" said Saria.

"Because whereas the norm among non-Gerudos is for a man and a woman to fall in love and get married, in Gerudo Valley, it is the norm for two women to fall in love and get married."

"And--Link and Kasuto love each other?" said Saria. She hated herself, felt herself burning, she wasn't this little, but how little was she, after all, was she really this, or wasn't she a fairy spirit from the Forest?

"Yes," said Nabooru. "They love each other. Very much. But there are some people--a lot of people--in fact, the general consensus--like the Archdeacon Priest, who don't like it at all when two women or two men are in love that way. They consider it evil and sinful."

Saria nodded.

Expository lump on the facts of life. Number Two.

There was a bump.

"I got it," said Zelda breathlessly. Saria looked, and the boulder was gone. And they all watched silently as Link walked up from the cave, an unconscious Sheikah hanging limply in his arms.

**

* * *

**

Impa ran forward. Not thinking, not considering. She passed a hand over her son's face. He didn't stir. "Ruto! Saria!" she called out. Ruto and Saria came, displacing her, and she stepped back slowly, getting to her feet.

"What happened?" said Nabooru shakily.

"We got there and everyone was gone," Link said, watching Ruto and Saria muttering over Kasuto. "There was a message on the wall, in, I guess Gerudoen script, Kasuto could read it. It was from his fathers. It said they'd left, but they told Kasuto he'd be going East. According to Kasuto, the message was from three days ago."

"We saw the guards leaving the mountain almost immediately after you left," said Zelda.

Her son.

_My son_.

"So it was fine. The Gerudo are fine," said Nabooru.

"The men are," said Link. "What about your people?"

Nabooru laughed. "They're fine."

Zelda frowned. "How can you be so sure? That's not really the way a Queen should act towards her people, Nabooru."

Nabooru gave Zelda a knowing smile. "I know my people, Zelly. I think they can handle a bunch of men in armor."

Zelda sighed, but said nothing.

"Wait," said Saria. "What about the magic seal?"

Coughing.

"He's alive!" said Saria, jumping up.

"Step back!" said Impa, running forward and shoving Ruto out of the way. "Give him air!"

Kasuto was coughing, on his back, and Impa immediately turned him over on his side, where he vomited.

"What in the world happened in there?" said Zelda.

Kasuto swallowed the water Ruto conjured up for him. "I fainted," he said. "Obviously."

Nabooru laughed. "He's fine."

Kasuto started to stand up, but Impa stopped him and sat him back down. "You're not going anywhere," she said snappishly. Kasuto stared at her.

"Kasuto, what about the magic seal?" said Saria.

"We couldn't use our magic in there, either," said Link.

"We do that," said Kasuto. "Custom. Tradition. I don't know."

"Why didn't you tell us that before?" said Zelda furiously.

Kasuto opened his mouth. "I... don't know," he said at last, sounding surprised at himself.

Zelda set her jaw. "Everyone sit down," she said.

They did.

"In a _circle_," said Zelda.

They did.

"The Archdeacon Priest is out of line and out of control," said Zelda. "What we need to do is to reclaim the throne. I can clear Link's and Kasuto's names... and all of ours, for that matter."

"That's not the Archdeacon Priest," said Nabooru.

"My thoughts exactly," said Zelda.

"He's possessed," said Impa. "I can sense it. There's an angry spirit in him, and it seems familiar."

"We have to get Darunia," said Link. Impa looked at Zelda, whose face went hard. "I was thinking about what you said, Zelda, and it's Darunia. That wasn't him who--did it, especially not his wife and kid. And I saw him on Death Mountain, he was acting completely unlike himself. He..." Link made a face, trying to remember. "He told me to kill him, not to let him go back to Hyrule... not to let him kill anymore."

"This was _before_ he killed Fila, Link, and the King?" said Nabooru.

Link nodded. "And then, something came out of his mouth, I mean not something, but he didn't say it, he just opened his mouth and this hideous voice came out."

"What did it say?" Zelda said coldly.

Link breathed, then stopped in mid-breath. He looked up at Zelda, seeming almost confused. "'Who am I?'"

"Well, that's strange," said Nabooru, not missing a beat.

Zelda looked at Link, her eyes slits. "You'd better be right, Link."

"We need him, anyway," said Ruto. "To exorcise the Archdeacon. We need..."--she stopped--"all the Sages," she finished.

A very fitting wind rustled the Sages', Link's, and Kasuto's hair.

Zelda stood up. "Fine. We're going to the dungeons."

Link stood up. "You mean I'm going to the dungeons."

Zelda huffed. "You're already on my last nerve, Hero."

Link grinned. "Yes, but you're atrocious at sneaking around the guards."

Impa cleared her throat. "May I remind you, Link, of Zelda's... ah, alter ago?"

Link's grinned dropped. "Oh... right." He looked around. "Well, listen, I think the fewer people that go, the better." He looked at Impa. "Right?"

Impa nodded. "He's certainly proven himself many times before."

"Fine," Zelda snapped. "I don't care. But you need someone to go with you. And I'm going with you, because I, too, have proven myself, and not just with magic."

"Okay," said Link.

"Excuse me," said Nabooru, "but I haven't forgotten about a certain wife of mine, who was similarly arrested. And you should thank me, Link, for not skinning you for forgetting to rescue her in addition to the rest of us."

Link turned red. "Sorry, Nabooru."

"We'll get her, Nabooru," Zelda said.

Nabooru crossed her arms. "I don't think you get it. You're not going with Link. I am. And I'm going to rescue my wife."

Zelda, speechless, looked at Impa. Impa looked right back at her. "Nabooru, I am your _princess_. Your _queen_. You can't speak to me this way!"

Nabooru grinned. "Pardon me, your Highness, but, just on a technicality, you're not the ruler of anything as of now. And secondly, I think we respect each other enough as friends for me to speak to you like that, and that I'm not even demanding that I'm going to save my wife, because I'm going to save my wife. And thirdly, I am a Gerudo warrior. I think I can take care of myself."

Zelda breathed. She looked at Impa.

Impa nodded.

"Fine," said Zelda. "You go."

Link looked around. "Are you all going to be all right?"

Kasuto shrugged. "I think I'm pretty much useless."

Link didn't say anything. "You're not useless," he said at last.

Kasuto smiled. "Thanks." He looked around. "We're not going to just stand here in broad daylight, are we?"

"We can go to the Forest Temple," said Saria.

"Or the Water Temple," said Ruto.

"Are _you _going to be all right?" said Zelda, specifically to Link.

"We'll be fine," said Nabooru. "Just pick a place now so we know where to find you."

"Vote?" said Kasuto.

"Voting?" said Zelda. "I thought _I _was the leader of the Sages!"

Kasuto looked Zelda straight in the eye. "As pristine as your judgment is, your Highness, I think you would work better as a team if you acknowledged that these people aren't your underlings, they are your friends." Zelda stared at him for a second, her jaw stuck out. Then, very grudgingly, she agreed to a vote.

Impa, Ruto, Saria, Zelda, and Kasuto voted for the Water Temple.

"All right, Nabooru," Link said, drawing her close to him. Nabooru let go immediately.

"Sorry kid, there are so many things wrong with that I can't even tell you." She held up her hand. "Allow me." She swished, and both of them were immediately replaced with an orange light.

Impa watched the orange light sail up and out of Death Mountain.


	7. Under the Castle

**Chapter Seven**

**Under the Castle**

"Plan?" said Link. "How are we even going to find them?"

Nabooru didn't say anything.

"Zelda probably knows these dungeons better than anyone," Link muttered.

"They're brand-new," said Nabooru. "So that's impossible."

They were behind a desk in the dungeonkeep's office. He wasn't there.

"We'll find a map of the dungeons," said Nabooru. "I'm sure they have separate jail areas for different crimes."

"Things aren't _that_ easy," said Link.

Nabooru turned to him. "They give the murderers the worst cells. They give thieves the best--I mean, the least bad cells. It's just a matter of finding which areas our babies belong in."

"All right, fine," said Link. "But can't you just use your magic?"

"Link, if I could use my magic for _everything_, what would be the point in doing _anything_?"

Link thought about that. "Okay."

They stood up and looked through the desk.

"Easy," said Nabooru.

"Thieves. Heretics. Witches. Sexual deviants. Murderers, " Link read.

"Wow," said Nabooru. "Valja fits under almost all of those."

"All right, well, Darunia doesn't. He fits under one of those," said Link.

"Which one do you think Valja fits under the most?" said Nabooru.

"Which one do _I _think?" said Link. "It doesn't matter what I think, they're the ones who imprisoned her."

"Humor me."

Link rolled his eyes. "All right, well, you're not actually thieves, so she's not a thief. I guess, yeah, you guys are pretty much heretics. You're not _actually_ witches, they probably think so, but not really. Yeah, you're definitely sexual deviants... not a murderer... at least I don't think so. She was probably _arrested_ for heresy... or no, wait, then they would have arrested all the Zoras..."

"I believe I'll check out the sex deviants and the heretics," said Nabooru, rolling up the map. "Meet me back here in two hours," she said, moving out the door.

"Wha--what?"

Nabooru craned her head around. "Murderers are on the lowest floor, twentieth basement floor. Good luck."

"Wait!"

Nabooru moaned and turned around. "What's the problem now, kid?"

"First of all, we're doing this together, so we'll get Darunia first, Valja second. Second of all, how am I going to tell when it's two hours later?" Link said, looking furious.

"Baby, _first of all_, I'm a Gerudo. An actual one, not a Hylian man who bones other men. You should know I of all people can't be trusted. Second of all, rescuing Valja won't be half as romantic if I'm not alone." She thought about that for a second. "Whatever. You know what I mean."

Link looked like he was about to protest again, but Nabooru cut him off. "You can handle it, kid. _You're_ the man who me realize that not all of you are disgusting hairy idiots with inverted vaginas." She winked at him. "And that's something."

**

* * *

**

Nabooru preferred skulking around over using her magic. Kept her fit.

And sexy.

Also, it was just plain fun.

Now, to begin the daring rescue of the Gerudo Queen Valja bat Navarro. She grinned and watched the guard below her blunder about. _Idiot_. She could just scamper across the rafters, and he'd never notice.

She frowned. This was too easy. These damn Hyrule guards were ridiculous. She saw a single rat's head by her hand and flicked it off the rafter.

The guard turned his head.

Excellent. Nabooru movied her lips, rubbing her tongue against the roof of her mouth, sumptuously, and slowly let out an ooze of saliva onto the guard's helmet.

The guard looked up. But Nabooru was at the other side of the hallway by then. _Oh, Nabooru, you're so swift_, she thought, a little smile on her face.

Down the stairs.

Jump, jump, dodge.

Spit.

Her leg muscles were getting tired, surprisingly. Seizing. Perhaps she was out of shape. That didn't make sense. Sex was a workout, wasn't it?

She looked down. The air was stuffier down here. She'd forgotten to keep an eye on what level she was on. She was deep, however.

Deep down.

She jumped down. The guard was oblivious. His back was to her.

Quiet as a cat.

She crept towards the guard on her velvet paws.

The keys glinted.

The guard was oblivious.

She snatched them and jumped back up to the rafters.

Map. She unfolded the parchment and quickly realized it didn't actually help her, considering every floor so far had been the same. Dammit.

Think, think.

She could seduce the guard. The idea was profoundly repellent to her. She decided she'd have to swallow her pride and use her magic. She closed her eyes and searched the guard's mind.

Floor five of the heretics. Dammit. Valja could be on any of these floors.

She sighed, putting the map away, and got to work.

**

* * *

**

Din dammit, this had to end, and fast. He didn't like sneaking around. He liked adventuring around, hookshotting and bowing and arrowing and bombing and ocarina-ing and swording, but not sneaking. Nervous, a lump in his throat. He wasn't even thinking of Darunia at this point. He just knew he had to get this over with.

Murderers were on the bottom floor. Easy. And the second block, so he and Nabooru were in completely separate ends of the dungeons. The murderers' dungeon was less like jail cells and more like a dungeon. By the time he arrived at the bottom floor, the only way he could have seen anything at all was by the aid of a lantern. It was different from the Death Mountain Caves in that Link could feel the openness around him. In fact, he had the feeling of being surrounded by an enormous pit. He suspected he was on a bridge, a walkway suspended above a great pit, perhaps to keep intruders like him out.

Din's Fire.

Link's heart actually clutched. He'd seen many things, but not like this.

The walkway stretched and curved forwards into a horizon of darkness. The walkway was the only thing lit up for the simple reason that that was the only thing that there was to light up.

He began to walk. Unlike the other floors, this floor was completely devoid of any sound whatsoever, save his feet, his boots hitting the cold gravel, and the first time this happened he shivered, listening to the echo.

What did that mean? That meant there were walls to this monstrosity, right?

He stopped again. This time, not. a. sound.

not. a. sound.

How poetic.

Link shivered.

Then, memory served, and the Triforce of Courage rose to the forefront of his brain.

He didn't consider himself a very brave person. Shouldn't the Triforce of Courage have been more of an emblem than something from which to draw courage? He depended on it, it was his rock. To know that he was the Hero, that he bore the Triforce of Courage, was his strength. Shouldn't it just have been a symbol of his immense courage, the reason why the Triforce chose him?

Who created the labyrinth?

**

* * *

**

Valja smelled like copper and earth, like she always did. Her lips tasted like berries, like they always did. She looked like Valja, like she always did. She smelled, tasted, looked, felt, sounded, like Valja. She looked like some sort of slender strawberry. She felt smooth, delicious. She sounded... somewhat ridiculous as she always did, that abnormally high, feminine voice of hers.

"I was going to get myself out of here, you know," she said, grinning, but Nabooru grinned back and shook her head. "Bitch."

"You know you wouldn't be able to do anything without me, baby," Nabooru said, kissing her.

"I love you," they both said, and kissed.

"Let's go. We have to meet Link upstairs," said Nabooru.

Link wasn't upstairs.

"Where do you suppose he is?" said Valja, her eyes innocent and wide.

"I don't even know what kind of joke you're trying to make," Nabooru grumbled.

"Well, where do you suppose he is?" Valja repeated.

"Saving Darunia," said Nabooru.

"Can't Darunia save himself?" said Valja.

"You couldn't," said Nabooru.

Valja made a face.

"You're also acting like a twelve-year-old girl," said Nabooru, smiling nonetheless.

"True," said Valja.

"We'll wait for him," said Nabooru.

"True," said Valja.

* * *

All of a sudden, he had to shit.

"Great Goddesses," he moaned. The end of the walkway still wasn't in any sort of sight. Shit off the edge? It was cold. And he didn't think he'd be able to concentrate.

It subsided.

"Darunia?" he yelled.

"Brother?" a voice reverberated back immediately, making Link stumble. He hesitated.

"Where are you?"

"I'm _here_, Brother!" said Darunia, explaining nothing.

"Where's _here_?" shouted Link.

"Here!" said Darunia.

Link eyed the pit. "I'm in a giant... I don't even know if it's a room. It's a walkway, in pitch black, into darkness, the pit is pitch black, and the horizon is pitch black."

"Brother, save me!" He sounded frantic.

"Did you kill the King?" Link shouted back.

"Whatever you believe!" Darunia said cryptically.

_The Hero shall See_, another voice said, eons different from Darunia, and really eons different, so different, that was the only way it could possibly be described, as a voice without time, eons old, cracked and broken, slow and quick and everything at once--

And familiar.

He felt swimming. He swallowed, got to his knees, put his head in between his knees. Moan.

Swimming. Head, swimming.

When he opened his eyes, he was back in the dungeons, but when he looked in front of him, there was no staircase heading down. He was at the bottom of the underground prison.

"Hey!" A guard lifted his whistle to his lips, but Link whipped out his Boomerang and snatched it away. Before the guard could even react, Link had unsheathed Vendrake and whipped him aside the head, sending him to the ground, unconscious.

"Darunia?"

Darunia's face became apparent out of one of the jail cells, grinning and smiling with the sort of relief that the Goron once had, before the War, before he'd changed so drastically. "Brother!" he said jovially.

Link ran to the bars of the jail cell. "I'm so sorry, we all are, Darunia, are you okay now?"

Darunia didn't say anything for a minute. "I think so, Brother, I think so."

"Let's get you out of here," said Link. He looked at the lock. "The guard probably has the keys. I'll--"

BAM!

Link fell, slowly, on his butt, dazed. Darunia stood in front of him, a huge grin on his face, his hand outstretched.

"Darunia, why didn't you just do that before?" said Link.

"Brother, you have no idea what I was feeling like," said Darunia mysteriously.

Link narrowed his eyes at him. "You're different," he said. "Good different, though."

"I'll tell you, Brother, let's just get out of here..."

Darunia's voice was drowned out, suddenly, and the same old voice filled Link's consciousness.

_The Hero has Seen... and the Hero has been Seen... and I shall Burn the Hero... and the Hero shall Burn..._

Vomit, then sleep.


	8. The Sage of Light

**Chapter Eight**

**The Sage of Light**

Darunia opened his eyes, yet again.

"Darunia!" Saria ran forward and gave the unsuspecting Goron a giant hug. He felt hot tears burning his chest on his rocky skin and he grimaced, but held her.

"Saria," he said. He looked up to see a wary-looking Ruto, a calculating Impa, a confused-looking Zelda, and a boy with long white hair and red eyes, about Link's age, looking remarkably like Impa. Then he realized where they were and moaned. "Must we be in the Water Temple?" He could feel his thick Goron skin slowly loosening. Then he felt it slowly tightening up again and smiled down at Saria. "Thank you, child."

"Where's Nabooru?" said Zelda.

"And Link?" said the boy.

Darunia looked around. The Water Temple, as it was with the rest of the Temples, had an eerie silence to it, the water sitting in the middle of the temple rather innocently. The six of them were clustered around a statue of a dragon with a hookshot target on it. "The girl isn't with you?"

Zelda shook her head. "She was supposed to be _rescuing_ you with _Link_!"

"My Brother..." said Darunia. He looked at Zelda. "I was telling him we should leave, and suddenly I'm here, with all of you, I--"

"Oh for Nayru's sake...!" said Zelda, running an angry hand through her hair. "This is just perfect! One second!" She closed her eyes.

The boy was glaring at him. Darunia tried not to look at him. Then he realized he couldn't look any of them in the face. He said, feeling very foolish, "Why did you come back for me?"

Zelda opened her eyes, looking surprised. "Darunia, you're a Sage."

"And our friend," said Saria.

"It was Link," said Ruto. "It was his idea. From something Zelda said at Colfax's funeral, about not deserting those whom you're loyal to, or something. And he'd seen you before, and he knew you were acting strange."

Darunia said nothing. Then he laughed, nervously. "I suppose you want to know what happened."

"That would be wonderful, yes," Zelda said sternly. Darunia opened his mouth. "But let's wait for Nabooru and Valja. And Link, if he's with them."

Even before she was done speaking, an orange light had begun to descend from the sky, materializing in front of Zelda as the twinnish Gerudos.

"Darunia," said Nabooru, slightly coldly, bowing equally slightly. "How nice to see you again."

Valja nodded.

"My dear child," said Darunia, standing up and kissing her hand. "And Valja," he said, kissing her hand as well. He looked around. "Link isn't with you?"

Nabooru looked confused. "We thought he'd be with you. What happened?"

"He rescued me, and I was telling him that it was time to go, and then I woke up here."

"Enough!" said Zelda. "We won't be able to do anything until Darunia tells us exactly what happened to him." She looked him straight in the eyes. "Now tell me, Darunia: why did you kill my father?"

* * *

It tumbled all out of him, the puppy, the ghost, the mysterious being, the killing.

Killings.

He left one part out of the story, and that was the destruction of the Gorons.

"I think some of it rubbed off on me," said Darunia.

"What?" said Impa, not kindly.

"The monster's insecurity, his lack of self, lack of sense of self," said Darunia. He laughed, nervously. "Listen to me, do I sound like myself?"

"No," said Ruto. "You sound complicated."

"Complicated would be exactly the way to put it," said Darunia. "I feel young, not young in a good way, youth wasn't good, it was full of complications and confusion. Maybe nothing's good. Maybe nothing's bad."

"You do sound different," Impa conceded.

"I'm sorry, I'm--oh, Din, am I sorry. You don't even know, maybe you do, I... my wife, my son, they're dead, they're gone--" Darunia closed his eyes. "I have a headache." He opened one eye at the white-haired boy, who still looked somewhat upset. "Who is this?" he asked politely.

"Who are you?" said the boy.

Darunia stood up and bowed. "I am Darunia Pnmegiea XVI, King of the Gorons, Sage of Fire," he said. "And you?"

"Kasuto," the boy said, after a moment. "Demrenl."

"Isn't that the village you were born in?" said Zelda suspiciously.

"I--" Kasuto looked truly ashamed. "I'm sorry to have lied to you, your Highness. I wasn't ready at the time to tell of my tribe, at the behest of my mother."

"Your mother?" said Darunia.

"Oh, Darunia, don't be stupid," said Impa. "He's my son."

Darunia stared at her. Ruto and Saria stared too. "Really," he said at last.

"Really," said Impa.

Zelda frowned. "Look, all I want to do now, is to kill this ghost, I want revenge, my father is dead, and I'm sorry, Darunia, it will take me some time, I believe you, but this ghost needs to die."

"We should consult the Goddesses," said Impa. "I believe we need to go to the Chamber of the Sages."

"Why do we need to consult the Goddesses for this?" said Zelda.

"Because I need to see if I'm right about something," said Impa.

"What about me?" said Kasuto.

"You're coming right along with us, boy," said Impa brusquely.

"Can he do that?" said Saria.

"Link did it," said Zelda.

"Yes, but Link was the Hero," said Ruto.

"Hey, does that mean Valja's coming, too?" said Nabooru, pulling Valja in towards her.

"She may as well," Zelda said, somewhat tiredly.

Valja grinned.

"Let's go, then!" Saria said, when no one else had anything to say. Zelda nodded. They went.

**

* * *

**

"The Gerudos weren't there, then," said the Archdeacon Priest.

"No, your Majesty, the rock was sealed with a magic barrier."

"And the female Gerudos?"

"We've not heard back from the troops who led the assault on the Gerudo Valley," the guard said, sounding almost embarrassed.

"I see. And nothing of the Sages?"

"The... attendant of Queen Nabooru has escaped, your Highness. And the King Darunia has similarly escaped--"

"I know about that," said the Archdeacon. "Thank you, you are dismissed."

The guard looked confused, but bowed and left.

"What would I say if I had a journal to write in?" the Archdeacon said aloud, walking towards a curtain in the back of the room. "Well, the fact isn't that I don't have a journal to write in, it's that I don't wish to. My dear, I've somehow become two people, two people at once, as if I've awakened, realized my past self, realized who I am, two people, two consciousnesses, joined in one." He slowly opened the curtain to reveal the boy, lying on his back on a pedestal, nude, lit only by flickering torches. His breath came slowly and peacefully. "And, my dear, when you wake, you'll be helpless, and you'll be burning, but I will give you the chance, the choice, to stay with me, be mine forever." He dropped a hand to the boy's face, feeling the cool stubble.

He felt himself being ripped apart, day by day.

**

* * *

**

The Chamber of the Sages.

In a way, it made Ruto comfortable, reminded her of home... it was blue, shining, a dark, deep, blue, almost like deep ice, constantly moving, something in the material of the Chamber, constantly moving, shining.

The pillars. She stared across the great blue pillar at...

Kasuto?

The others became aware of it, too.

"Where's Valja?" said Nabooru immediately.

"Goddesses, hear us!" said Impa loudly. "We pray for your guidance!"

Zelda gasped, and her hand shot up into the air. On the back of her left hand, a familiar triangle glowed, glowed until it was so bright Ruto had to shield her eyes, and at last a small blue prism was hovering in the air above their heads. The Triforce glittered, but Zelda spoke.

"_I am the Triforce of Wisdom_," said Zelda, in a voice that was hers, yet metal and glistening. "_What dost thou ask of me_?"

"We implore you, Symbol of Nayru," said Impa. "We fear great evil has arisen in the land of Hyrule, and has taken prisoner the Hero, and, for a time, the soul of the Sage of Fire. The Sage's family has been killed, and so has the Seventh Sage's father, the King of Hyrule. And now, the Archdeacon Priest of our land has taken control of the kingdom and seems to be possessed by the same being."

Zelda and the Triforce almost seemed to hesitate. "_Do not fear, Sage of Fire. Your people have survived._" Everyone seemed to look at Darunia quizzically, who looked rather miserable. "_Ganondorf hath indeed disrupted the balance once more in the sacred land of Hyrule. The soul of the Sage of Light, Rauru, hath been destroyed by the Evil King in the Sacred Realm. What remained was a mass of angry spirit. This entity sought out vaguely its identity and acted upon a raw desire to kill and destroy. It could not live long in the consciousness of the Sage of Fire, having barely anything to identify with and only being able to take control for short periods of time to destroy. It hath found its permanent, if not stopped, home in the heart of the tormented Archdeacon Priest. Both souls hath been destroyed and renewed and are as one._"

The Triforce seemed to shine brighter now.

"_And I do now awaken thee, Kasuto, Sage of Light, son of Impa and Mudoro, Sheikah and Gerudo, Shadow and Spirit._"

And as Kasuto was awakened, as were all of them. Ruto understood, understood his calling as well as her own again. The Triforce of Wisdom, whatever it was, was just the same as Nayru, just the same as Jabu-Jabu, just the same as the Deku Tree, just the same as the Desert Goddess, she realized. _Just the same as herself._

"Tell me where the Hero is," said Kasuto.

"_The Hero is trapped in an enchanted sleep, in the chambers of the Archdeacon Priest,_" said Zelda. "_They are the same chambers as those of your father's, Zelda_. _Now, Sages, Kasuto, Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, Nabooru, Zelda, save the Hero, save the tormented Archdeacon and Rauru, and restore peace to Hyrule once more, as is your sacred duty, and your sacred birthright._"

Zelda's own voice emanated our of her throat now. "Triforce, Goddesses, I have a question."

"_Ask it, child_," the Triforce responded.

Zelda was clearly struggling. "Is... is Gerudomy sinful?"

"_No,_" said the Triforce. "_It is beautiful._"

The silence in the Chamber of the Sages was world-shattering.

"_All willful meetings of bodies and souls are of the highest grace, of the highest beauty, no matter the forms._"

Zelda breathed. She was crying.

"Thank you," she said.

* * *

They opened their eyes. Kasuto opened his eyes, and he realized he was crying.

Why, exactly?

An experience?

He felt sure, now, more sure, anyway, new, independence, cause. He knew himself now. He was the Sage of Light, and he was Kasuto Demrenl, son of Impa and Mudoro, son of Yasha and Andrew.

But the important thing now was not him.

It was Link.

He looked around at the other Sages, and Valja, who looked somewhat annoyed.

Once more, like the back of his hand, ingrained in his head, so he barely had to think:

SariaDaruniaRutoImpaNabooruZelda

Sariadaruniarutoimpanabooruzelda

SARIADARUNIARUTOIMPANABOORUZELDA

sariadaruniarutoimpanabooruzelda

"All of you," he said surely, and loudly, "let's go." He looked around, a deathly glint in his eye. "We're going to rescue Link."

**

* * *

**

The Archdeacon didn't sleep. He didn't eat. He'd forgotten about the Gerudos, forgotten about sin, well, he remembered sin, but he'd forgotten the sin of others, their sins, and remembered only his own, as he gazed, all night, at the naked Link on the dais.

He didn't dare let himself touch the body.

It didn't assign, mix, his fears, his desires, his fear WAS his desire. He thought everything would work itself out with his awakening.

The night was long, long, never-ending. All he felt was his stiffened penis, his bewildered penis, and the fluid flowing in it, screaming, his body was screaming, fire, burning, no Link would burn he was wrong.

His awakening hadn't worked, he didn't even think about his new appearance anymore, he was growing older, older, and angrier. Was it leaving him? Please, no, please, why wouldn't it give him the strength?

What strength? To dispose of the boy?

He'd had the strength to do what he'd always wanted, order the destruction of the hateful, sinful, Gerudos, _both_ of them, to take control, to save Hyrule from the fire, but he hadn't strength to murder this boy, this boy who'd ignited the Fires of the Devil King within him, this Gerudess.

The boy looked almost angelic, lying, a golden veil in front of his body. His penis was apparent; not erect, but simple and surrounded by a cloud of brown, almost like a statue's, since he'd received him in the labyrinth he'd built beneath the castle.

Who built that labyrinth?

He did, somehow, he knew that, and somehow he felt even his other part hadn't.


	9. Soul

**Chapter Nine**

**Soul**

_28 Farore's Moon 3711_

The Sages watched, dramatically, the wind blowing through their hair, hovering above the Hyrule Castle grounds. They'd agreed, wordlessly, even without conferring, but they all felt nothing, no qualms about Link and Kasuto. Kasuto had gone down to awaken the Hero, how, they weren't sure, but when he awakened, the Hero would weaken the possessed spirit in the Archdeacon and the Sages would exorcise him.

Zelda, Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru were confident of it.

* * *

Kasuto felt himself changing, still, he felt his experience in the Chamber of the Sages slowly leaving him, but slowly staying with him all the same. He grew tired, yet excited. Nervous, yet confident. He felt like some sort of shimmering globe, turning and revolving, completely unlike himself.

He wanted to cry, and he wanted to do it on Link.

He crept, easily, he felt he'd gotten that from Nabooru, or from Impa, more likely, that he'd rather creep around then merely use his magic. The night was pitch-black, and the castle felt sinister now, no longer homey and happy, the way it had been when the King of Hyrule was alive, in power. He had no qualms about going forward, saving Link, he knew he wanted him, he felt selfish, but he didn't care.

Creak. He'd opened a door.

He hummed something to himself, quietly, so quietly, so that he heard a thump. He jumped and spun around. He looked.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

He resumed, and things went on much the same until, at the end of the hallway, he'd reached the King's old chambers. He opened the door.

Sneak, Kasuto, sneak. Sneak, Sage of Light, sneak. Be the sage of Light, be light, be shadow, be your Gerudo thieving self, be your Sheikah ninja self. He didn't need to check if someone was in the King's bed. In the next room he'd seen the silhouette of a boy behind a thin red veil, lying on his back, naked, and he was already at Link's side.

Link was smiling. Not eerily, peacefully. He looked very happy. Somewhat sad. He was barely smiling, even, his smile was wistful and he seemed to be dreaming.

Kasuto decided to try it from the top.

"Link! Wake up, Link!" he whispered sharply. He was breathing, slowly, he was definitely sleeping, so Kasuto was not scared he might have died.

He put a hand on Link's forehead. He was cool. He wasn't sick.

Then, feeling somewhat foolish, but hoping excitedly that it would work, he got down to his knees and kissed Link, slowly and softly, on the lips. He pulled away.

Nothing.

"He won't wake up that way," a voice said behind him. Kasuto stood up and turned around to see the Archdeacon Priest, in dark green robes, looking significantly more tired than he'd looked earlier that day.

"I haven't even gotten to you yet," Kasuto said icily.

The Archdeacon laughed. "No, of course you haven't."

"We know what's happened to you," said Kasuto. "We know this isn't you, but you know what? It is you, at the same time, this is just what you'd do if you had power, and you're doing it, and you're not fooling anyone, you're just as bad as whatever's possessing you."

The Archdeacon stared at him, his eyes glaring unfiltered hatred at Kasuto. "You evil boy, I'm not the one who's bad, you are, you're the epitome of everything that's wrong with this world, you've... you and the rest of your filthy, sinful, brethren, you've cast a spell on the Goddesses' chosen, all of them, the Sages and the Hero, and you won't even stop there, advocating your sinful lifestyle and brainwashing the Princess of Destiny."

"I've got news for you. I've just been to the Chamber of the Sages, and got word _firsthand_ from the Triforce of Wisdom that Gerudomy is not only not sinful, it's beautiful. And for the record, I didn't brainwash anyone," said Kasuto. "If anyone's brainwashed anyone, it's you."

"You're a filthy liar. And are you going to stand there arguing with me all night, or aren't you going to inquire how to save your foul sin-spawn?" the Archdeacon sneered at the last line.

"I will," said Kasuto, "right after I inquire what on earth he's doing in your personal chambers, asleep, and completely naked."

The Archdeacon didn't say anything. He glared, and Kasuto saw his hate, hate burning through his eyes, not just for Kasuto, but for himself.

"I see I've infected you, Arch--or should I call you, your Majesty?"

"He did," said the Archdeacon weakly, and it was as if Kasuto had flipped a coin. "He cast this spell, this... wicked, Gerudo, spell, on me, and he's going to burn, I'll kill him, don't you worry, and he'll be alive to see himself burn." The Archdeacon reached into his robes and pulled out a gleaming, glittering, hunter green prism.

Kasuto's breath caught. He knew what that triangle was.

"I own his soul, as long as I have his Triforce of Courage."

He heard a swishing behind him, and Kasuto turned around to see Link, fully clothed, fully armed, his eyes deadset--and dead--at Kasuto.

"Kill him," said the Archdeacon.

Link's sword inexplicably materialized in his hand, the green Vendrake, and he silently began walking towards Kasuto.

Oh, Din.

Almost as if Link had read his thoughts, Kasuto jumped as Link suddenly ran at him with his sword. Completely unfazed, Link jabbed his sword up in the air as Kasuto's body obeyed the laws of gravity. Kasuto's heart leapt out of his throat and he threw a Deku Nut, teleporting himself to the other side of the room only to see Link speeding towards him again. Kasuto ducked, tripping Link.

He could easily kill Link, a blast of magic would do it. But he couldn't. Never Link. Beyond caring that the Archdeacon, although fanatical and ill-minded, was merely under the control of an angry spirit, he threw a blast of white light at the enchanted priest. The Archdeacon let out a bloodcurdling and the pitiable, helpless scream of an old man as he was propelled backwards against the wall. Kasuto's eyes watched, almost in slow motion, the Triforce of Courage sail through the air. He didn't even have to do anything when the Triforce hit Link in the small of his back, just as Link stood in front of Kasuto, ready to deliver a most likely fatal blow to Kasuto's oblivious head. Link's eyes burst open and he gasped as the Triforce reentered his body, dropping his sword and falling into Kasuto's arms.

He no longer needed to cry into Link's arms now. He needed Link to hold onto him. "Hold on to me," he said, but he looked up and was met with a blast of white light.

"Sage of Light, are you?" the Archdeacon wheezed. "I knew him--the real one--Rauru, once, long ago." Link lay in Kasuto's arms, dazed. "You won't replace him." Another blast of white light hit Kasuto square in the face, and Kasuto noticed that the Archdeacon would not hit Link.

A thought struck him. He realized it wasn't his thought, but the thoughts of Saria and Ruto.

_Kasuto! Can you hear us? _they said.

_Yes! What is it?_

_You're the third Sage who can heal! Heal Link!_

Kasuto did. "Link, be healed!" he said quickly, running his hands over Link.

Link jumped up, completely refreshed, and swung his sword at the next ball of white light, sending it back at the bewildered-looking Archdeacon Priest. It hit him, and this time the Archdeacon Priest didn't scream. He let the ball hit his body, wincing, obviously trying not to scream with rage. He looked at Link, and he looked truly miserable.

"Boy... Link..." He started to cry. The old man in front of them, the Archdeacon Priest, began to cry. "I hate you, you cannot even fathom my hate for you. At dawn, at dawn, you will die, because I want everyone in Hyrule to see you die, and I will spread the word." He shot a blast of white light at Link, who fell to the ground once more, unconscious, and before Kasuto could do anything, Link vanished out of sight. He looked up to the Archdeacon Priest. "Go back to your Sages. Tell them that Link and I will be waiting for them at the execution site at dawn." And then he disappeared as well, leaving Kasuto standing alone in the King's bedroom, breathing heavily.

**

* * *

**

Kasuto returned, not bloody but beaten.

"What happened?" Impa said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"He--" Kasuto swallowed and sat down. "I need to sit down."

Saria sat down next to him and healed him.

"Thank you, Saria," Kasuto said gratefully. "But I still need a minute to--catch my breath."

"Very well," said Impa.

"Is he dead?" said Zelda immediately. "The Archdeacon, I mean."

Kasuto shook his head. "Not in the traditional sense. The body seems to be, at the same time, two people at once, yet he acts very strangely, constantly switching from one extreme to another in a short length of time. One second--yes. One second he's evil, assured, self-confident, the other he's tortured, desperate, in love with Link."

Nobody said anything.

"In love--with _Link_?" Zelda sputtered.

"Who isn't?" Ruto said.

Everyone slowly turned to look at her, who immediately turned a deep shade of violet.

Kasuto laid out the facts. "The Archdeacon had put him in an enchanted sleep, in his own personal chambers, laid out nude behind thin veils, surrounded by candles. What's more, he actually is, though he won't say it. He blames me, and Link, for putting a Gerudo spell on him, and on the rest of you, too, for associating with us."

"Wow," said Valja, who was sitting in Nabooru's lap.

"That pathetic creep," said Zelda darkly.

"He had Link's Triforce of Courage," said Kasuto. "He--"

"He had Link's Triforce of COURAGE?" Zelda screeched the last word.

"Holy Fa_rore_, Zelda!" Nabooru said, bringing her hands down from her ears.

"Yes, he had it, and for some reason while he held it, he could control Link, so he was controlling Link to kill me, but then I made him drop it and the Triforce went back into Link's body. At that point, Saria and Ruto told me I was the third healer--thank you, by the way--and I healed Link, but the Archdeacon at that point--who didn't seem to be destroyed by the magic I was throwing at him--made Link disappear, and he told me to tell you all that he was going to be executed this morning, dawn, in front of all Hyrule."

Zelda looked around. "It's 3:32. We'll hide out at the execution site until dawn."

"Then what?" said Nabooru.

"Then--we'll rescue Link, and exorcise the Archdeacon Priest," Zelda said, looking at Nabooru like she was an idiot.

"How exactly are we going to rescue Link?" said Nabooru.

"I don't know! Untie his ropes? Wake him up?"

"Do we need Link to destroy the spirit in the Archdeacon?" said Ruto.

Zelda opened her mouth, but stopped suddenly.

"You don't know, do you?" said Nabooru.

"We'll play it by ear," said Kasuto. Impa noticed Zelda sending him a quiet look of thanks.

"Our first priority," Impa said, "is saving the Hero. He may not be crucial to destroying the poltergeist, but he is..."--Impa stared straight ahead while saying this--"...our friend."

Kasuto looked at Zelda, both of them smiling quietly.

"Enough," said Impa. "To the execution site."


	10. The Fagot

**Chapter Ten**

**The Fagot**

Link awakened, groggily, _very _groggily, and for a second he didn't know where he was, or where he'd been. Then it slowly came back to him. Rescuing Darunia... then... a dream about Kasuto? A dark room... fighting a priest... now...

He blinked. The sun was in his eyes--it wasn't up, not completely, but a sliver of sunlight stabbed his eyes. He tried to move, but he found he was bound, arms and legs, to something behind him. His eyes focused and he looked down to see a huge pile of kindling, then a wooden platform around the kindling. Then, around the platform, people, jeering, screaming, booing, cheering, Hylians, no Zoras, no Gorons, no Gerudos.

He couldn't move his head, either.

What.

"And, Hyrule, he is awake!" a voice boomed out next to him.

Hyrule cheered.

The Archdeacon Priest, tall, wrinkle-less, eyes brimming with something, came into view below him, looking up, a lit torch in his hand. "Hero, Link, of Kokiri Forest!" he yelled. "You are to be burned at the stake for the following crimes! Treason, to the kingdom of Hyrule, for consorting with the evil and sinful tribe of Gerudos, male and female!"

The crowd was still cheering.

"Witchcraft, for entrancing and bewitching the Seven Sages, who are currently wanted for trial for treason!"

The cheering was so loud now to Link's still waking ears he was almost ready to cry.

"And last, but certainly not least, the sinful act of Gerudomy, a sick, demented, degenerate insult to the Gods, for taking delight in and copulating with the flesh of another man!"

The crowd was shrieking now.

The Archdeacon Priest was walking now, up the pile of sticks, his eyes set on Link's. Link was fully awake now, and frantic. His items were all gone, all gone, he couldn't remember any of his spells, oh Din, oh Din, _Someone save me_--

The Archdeacon Priest was there now, inches from his face, and for the first time, Link saw something in his eyes, hurt almost, desperation, something, hate, maybe? "Take it all back, Link," he said quietly, in Link's ear. "Link, be mine and save yourself. _Come with me, be mine_," he said, desperately, and Link slowly realized what he was saying. He turned his head and looked him straight in the eye, and his hatred built up for the old hypocrite so quickly it was frightening. If he could have drew back his head, he would have, but he didn't. He would just have to go with forming the phlegm in the back of his throat and sending in straight into the Archdeacon's left eye.

The Archdeacon's face crumpled, and Link suddenly didn't feel hatred; he didn't know what he felt, but Link's face crumpled a little too, seeing the old man's face; the whole time, the whole reason, he didn't hate the Gerudos, he didn't hate Link, he loved Link, and he didn't hate the Gerudos, or Kasuto, or Nabooru or Valja, he hated himself. The Archdeacon stumbled down, the torch in his hand, Link watching him, and suddenly Link heard some people in the crowd yelling, at the top of their lungs:

"LIGHT THE FAGOT! LIGHT THE FAGOT!"

It was ridiculous, who _yelled_ things like that, but Hyrule was in a frenzy,

"LIGHT THE FAGOT! LIGHT THE FAGOT! LIGHT THE FAGOT! LIGHT THE FAGOT!"

"I!" The Archdeacon yelled, but he could barely be heard over the crowd's yelling. "I must be absolved! I must be forgiven! Please, Gods, hear me! Din! Nayru! Farore! Forgive me! Oh, Gods, forgive me!"

The crowd had quieted down somewhat now, and Link was still watching him, transfixed.

"They cast it! He entranced me, I beg of you, it is not my fault! I'm not to blame! This... these Gerudos, they set the spell on me, they cast it, my Gods, forgive me, absolve me! Fire...! Gods, help me, I must confess, I cannot, I am ripping myself apart, please, _please_, why is this sinful love of man in me, I've tried, I've tried so hard, to destroy it, please, Gods, please!"

The crowd had gone completely silent. Only the Archdeacon's screams could be heard.

"_Forgive me! Forgive me my transgressions, I lusted, I lusted after the Hero of Time, and many! Others! Forgive me! Oh Gods, oh Triforce, oh Hyrule!_" At that point the Archdeacon let out such a gasp and such a scream that some people in the crowd even screamed as the frail old body of the Archdeacon Priest completely fell, crumpled, off the side of the fagot. He was dead before he hit the ground.

**

* * *

**

Kasuto had been halfway down, panicking, praying he wouldn't be too late, when the Archdeacon fell. He'd stopped, at first, when the Archdeacon had started screaming, but he quickly recovered and took advantage of the distraction, running, but a few seconds after the Archdeacon fell, and Kasuto stopped, absolutely stunned, he heard Zelda's voice, just as stunned, in his head:

_Six Sages! NOW!_

Then people started to scream as the air above the Archdeacon Priest turned dark, malevolent, a limbed being, dark as the Shadow Temple, crawling out of the air.

Kasuto closed his eyes and felt himself calling, felt himself remembering ancient rituals, songs, ancients, _music_, muses, and he even felt Rauru, and other Sages who'd been in the Light Temple before him, and felt all the passageways and all the secrets of the Light Temple and of the Sacred Realm, and of the Triforce, and of Din, the Light she bestowed upon the Earth, and of how he was different from his mother, the Sage of Shadows, and similar to the woman Gerudo Nabooru, the Sage of Spirit, how his mother was death and Nabooru was life, yet his mother had given life, and this was it, and the Archdeacon was dead, how Rauru was dead yet alive, how Ganondorf was dead yet alive, and how life was love, and how his mother had loved his father, and how his fathers loved each other, and how Nabooru and Valja loved each other, how Ruto loved Link, and how Zelda loved Link, and how the Archdeacon loved Link, and how _he _loved Link, and how... Link loved him.

He felt Saria, the green forces of vegetation and, yes, life, and green, and also the darkness and mysterious of the Forest Temple, and of the Deku Tree, the Father of Life of Farore, the Mother of Life, how she was living, how long she had lived, and how now she was truly living, how it had happened, no one knew, but she was living and would grow to make more life.

He felt Darunia, the rocks and burning, the fire and the lava, the creation of the land of Hyrule, the angst, the torment, the lust and love and life of everything, Din, his strong flaming arms, her strong flaming arms, Death Mountain, and Life Mountain.

He felt Ruto, water, Water, Ice, cool, watery, wet, substance of life and death, how she commanded that water, the way of life for organisms, and everything really was life and death, really, water, the necessity of life, constantly moving and changing, like his Gerudos, cool, calm, Ruto, Princess Ruto.

He felt his mother, Impa, shadow, Sage of Shadows, darkness, lies, mystery, shroud, know the shadows like yourself, and she did, she was a Sheikah, and he was a Sheikah, shadows, not evil, but the other side of light, and maybe it was evil, because maybe you can't have good without evil and besides no one was really evil, not one person, not even Ganondorf, who was power-hungry and represented evil but couldn't be evil in himself.

He felt Nabooru, queen of the Gerudos, married to Valja, the other queen of the Gerudos, Sage of Spirit, and she was unapologetic, dazzling, redhead, her red hair, his father's red hair, his fathers' red hair, Louis' red hair, all of the Gerudos, unapologetic, dazzling, in their love for each other, and they truly were gallant, and true, and nobody could be more wrong in condemning them, because the Gerudos were fearless and brave and true.

He felt Zelda, Princess Zelda, the princess of Destiny, the leader of them all, Light and Forest and Fire and Water and Shadow and Spirit, the Bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom, she wasn't wise, barely eighteen years, but perhaps the Triforce gave her strength to be wise, and she truly was the Princess of Destiny, like a bell, ringing clear into the twilight of the era, the twilight princess, she'd be Queen, she was dazzling, beautiful, and she was a woman, more woman than any of them, dazzling and beautiful, and she wasn't useless, she was a person, a woman, a beautiful woman.

And he felt the Triforce, the three Golden Goddesses, whatever they were, the Desert Goddess, the Deku Tree, Jabu-Jabu, and he felt the forces, the power that was in the world, above them, he felt the universe, the being, the entirety of all souls, the beauty of love.

And then there was Link.

The shadow was gone.

Kasuto ran up the fagot, untied Link's ropes, and kissed him.


	11. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"And do you, Nvelo Longzora, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, till death do you part?" said Zora, her father, and she stood, or swam, rather, they were treading water, as was the Zora tradition.

Nvelo turned and looked into Ruto's eyes, who was gone in the ceremony. "I do," he said. Ruto knew it was stupid to be so excited over those words, especially since what did she expect him to say? No? But she felt a little thrill. He was there, this was really happening, it really was.

"And do you, Ruto Zora II, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, till death do you part?"

"I do," Ruto said quietly, looking up at Nvelo almost shyly. There was murmuring.

"Sorry, dear, what was that?" said Zora, smiling grandly.

"Oh." She grinned. "Sorry. I do," she said, louder.

Nvelo laughed, warmly, his eyes on her the whole time.

"Then I pronounce you, in the name of our Lord Jabu-Jabu, on this day 23 Courage Moon, 3712, husband and wife," said Zora. "And now--Prince Nvelo, Princess Ruto--you may kiss."

She didn't even see him coming, and she didn't see herself coming, either, all she knew was that she was kissing him, and Nvelo was hers, and she was Nvelo's, and she knew Zelda stood next to her, beaming, smiling, the Queen of Hyrule (in a protective bubble), that Link was in the audience, up front, in his Zora Tunic and his Iron Boots, that Kasuto and Saria and Darunia and Nabooru and Impa were there (also in protective bubbles), next to Link.

She pulled away and breathed, easily. She wasn't looking at Nvelo now, not at anyone, really. She knew. She knew she was in love with someone who loved her back. She knew herself, better than she had before, anyway, enough to go on, enough to grow up. She knew she'd explained it all to her father, and he'd been pleased with it, deeply pleased, and she knew Mykiss was her father's wife, though not her mother, and she knew her mother was gone, although she had been there, and her stone, her stone, had helped to save Hyrule.

Just as Ruto had.

**

* * *

**

Link looked back at Hyrule, at the disappearing Hyrule Castle.

"We'll come back," said Kasuto, meeting his gaze. "It's not like we're banished or anything, this was my idea." He was grinning. "In the meantime, concentrate on where your horse is going." Link gave him a quick kiss and turned around.

They didn't say much to each other. Neither smiled. Both looked forwards, always forwards, Epona and Arion trotting as close as possible to one another.

"Aren't you the Sage of Light now?" said Link suddenly. "Are we allowed to do this?"

"You're the legendary Hero," said Kasuto. "If you can do it, so can I."

"Good point," said Link, and once more they rode in silence.

"I ran away from home because they were making me marry someone," Kasuto said suddenly. Link slowed Epona down.

"Oh," said Link.

Kasuto slowed Arion down and turned to Link. "I didn't love him," said Kasuto.

Link nodded.

"I thought you should know. His name was--is--Louis," said Kasuto.

Link hoped he wasn't being paranoid or crazy when he felt some sort of shade of longing in Kasuto's voice when he said the name. He ignored it. He had a lot of nerve, not trusting Kasuto. "Thanks for telling me."

"Link."

"What?"

"I thought you should know... When we were in the Chamber of the Sages, Zelda asked the Triforce if Gerudomy was sinful. It said it wasn't. It said it was beautiful."

Link burst out laughing. "Kasuto, I knew that."

Kasuto looked shocked. "You did?"

Link smiled at him. "We're not wrong, Kasuto. Everybody else is wrong." He looked at him for another minute and kissed him.

Kasuto pulled away, after savoring the slow kiss, and grinned. "Now let's go find my parents."

"Yes. Let's," said Link, kicking Epona to a canter.

"Then what?" Kasuto said, after catching up to him and Link knew he knew these things, he was just testing him.

"Then, we do... whatever," said Link.

Kasuto grinned and kissed him again. "Darn right."

THE END


End file.
